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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


FRED   M.   DEWlTT 
BOOKSELLER 


IN  THE  SWIM. 


IN    THE    SWIM 


A  Story  of 

Currents  and  Under  -  Currents 
in  Gayest  New   York. 


By 

Richard  Henry  Savage 


Chicago  and  New  York: 

Rand,  McNally  &  Company, 
Publishers. 


Copyright,  1898,  by  Richard  Henry  Savage. 
All  Rights  Reserved. 


P5 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 

A  RISING  STAR. 

CHAPTER.  PAGES 

I —  "  Young  Lochinvar  has  Come  out  of  the  West,"     .  5-23 

II  —  The  Drift  of  a  Day  in  New  York  City, 24-43 

III  —  A  Frank  Disclosure, 44-67 

IV — "  Wyman  and  Vreeland  "  Swing  the  Street,  .     .     .  68-88 

V  — Toward  the  Zenith, 89-110 

BOOK  II. 

WITH   THE  CURRENT. 

VI  —  In  the  "  Elmleaf  "  Bachelor  Apartments,  .     .     .     111-131 

VII — "Plunger"  Vreeland's  Gay  Life, "Under  the  Rose,"  132-151 

VIII  —  Miss  Romaine  Garland,  Stenographer,   ....     152-170 

IX  —  Senator  Alynton's  Colleague 171-188 

X  —  An  Interview  at  Lakemere.      Some   Ingenious 

Mechanism.     "  Whose  Picture  is  That  ?"     .     .     189-209 

BOOK  III., 

ON   A   LEE   SHORE. 

XI  —  Miss  Marble's  Waterloo!  A  Lost  Lamb!  Her 
Vacant  Chair,  Senator  Garston's  Disclosure. 
Sara  Conyer's  Mission.  Miss  Garland's  Dishon 
orable  Discharge.  A  Defiance  to  the  Death. 

"Robbed!" 210-234 

XII  —  Mine  and  Countermine, 235-257 

XIII  —  A  Wedding  in  High  Life, 258-279 

XIV  — For  the  Child's  Sake! 280-315 

XV  — In  the  Dark  Waters, 316-361 


2061980 


IN    THE    SWIM. 


BOOK  I  — A  RISING  STAR. 


CHAPTER    I. 

"YOUNG     LOCHINVAR     HAS     COME    OUT     OP    THE 

WEST." 

There  was  an  expression  of  sullen  discontent  upon 
the  handsome  features  of  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  (gen 
tleman  unattached),  as  the  inbound  Hudson  River 
train  dashed  along  under  the  castled  cliffs  of  Rhine- 
beck. 

The  afternoon  was  fair — the  river  of  all  rivers 
glittered  gaily  in  the  sun,  and  a  dreamy  peace  rested  on 
field  and  stream.  But,  the  peace  of  this  June  afternoon 
of  '95  entered  not  into  the  young  wayfarer's  soul. 

The  five  years  which  the  traveler  from  nowhere  in 
particular  had  thrown  away  in  the  far  wilds  of  the 
sporadic  West  had  not  yet  robbed  his  chiseled  features 
of  the  good  looks  which  he  had  borne  away  from  old 
Nassau. 

And,  though  his  glittering  blue  eye  had  been 
trained  to  a  habitual  impassiveness  by  much  frontier 
poker,  he  had  always  abjured  that  Rocky  Mountain 
whisky  which  "biteth  like  an  adder. " 

As   he   restlessly  sought  the  smoking-car,   after  a 


6  IN  THE  SWIM. 

vain  struggle  with  the  all  too-evident  immorality  of  a 
saucy  French  novel,  several  quickly  thrilled  spinsters 
followed  his  retreating  form  with  warm  glances  of 
furtive  admiration  and  half-suppressed  sighs. 

Vreeland's  stalwart  figure  was  clearly  reminiscent 
of  well-played  football  and  long  straining  at  the  oar. 
His  well-set  head  was  bravely  carried,  his  eye  was 
searching  and  even  audaciously  daring  in  its  social 
explorations. 

At  twenty-seven  he  had  not  lost  the  fascination  of 
his  soft  and  perfectly  modulated  voice  nor  the  winning 
insinuation  of  his  too  frequent  smile.  The  chin  was 
far  too  softly  molded  for  an  ascetic,  and  an  expres 
sion  of  lurking  insincerity  flickered  in  the  pleasure  - 
loving  curves  of  his  handsome  mouth. 

But,  shapely  and  glowing  with  manly  vigor,  he  was 
a  very  "proper  man-at-arms"  in  the  battle  of  life, 
his  sweeping  cavalry  mustache  lending  an  air  of 
decision  to  his  sun-burned  features. 

Though  he  was  perfectly  dressed  up  to  the  memories 
of  his  never-forgotten  "varsity"  grade,  the  "wander- 
jahre"  had  given  to  him  a  little  of  that  easy  swing 
which  is  the  gift  of  wandering  on  boundless  prairies, 
long  nights  spent  al  fresco  under  the  glittering  dome 
of  stars,  and  a  close  commune  with  the  sighing  pines 
of  the  West. 

The  shade  of  bitterness  deepened  upon  his  moody 
face  as  he  noted  a  three-masted  steam  yacht  swinging 
along  up  the  river,  with  the  elastic  quivering  throb  of 
her  quadruple  compounded  engines.  This  queenly 
vessel  bore  the  private  signal  of  one  American  citizen 
whose  personal  finances  beggar  the  resources  of  many 
modern  kings. 

"Those    are    the    cold-hearted    fellows    who    rule 


IN  THE  SWIM.  7 

America  now  with  a  rod  of  iron — the  new  money 
kings, ' '  he  growled.  ' '  Royal  by  the  clink  of  the 
dollar,  sovereign  by  the  magic  wand  of  monopoly, 
impregnable  with  the  adamantine  armor  of  trusts ! ' ' 

And  then,  a  lively  hatred  of  the  social  grandees 
luxuriously  grouped  aft  on  that  splendid  yacht  crept 
into  his  embittered  soul. 

He  could  see  the  Venetian  awning  which  covered 
the  clustered  fair-faced  patrician  women  from  the 
fierce  sun,  which  rudely  burns  by  day. 

And  he  knew,  too,  by  distant  rumors  of  that  superb 
luxury  in  which  the  American  women  of  the  creed 
of  the  Golden  Calf  passed  their  happy  days  in  a 
splendid  and  serene  indolence,  only  lit  up  now  and 
then  with  gleams  of  the  passion  play  of  high  life. 

1  'It's  no  use  to  fight  those  fellows,  "  mused  Vreeland, 
as  he  carefully  trimmed  a  cigar.  '  'They  have  come 
to  stay,  and  I  must  try  and  fall  into  the  train  of 
some  one  of  them. ' ' 

He  looked  back  at  all  those  unprofitable  years  spent 
beyond  the  rugged  Rockies.  There  was  a  sense  of 
shame  and  resentment  as  he  recalled  the  shabby 
career  of  his  talented  father. 

"Thank  God,  I  am  now  alone  in  the  world,  'with 
no  one  nigh  to  hender!'  "  he  bitterly  reflected, 
unconsciously  quoting  Lowell's  "Zekle  and  Huldy.  " 

The  train  had  rushed  on  past  Poughkeepsie,  and 
the  parade  music  from  West  Point  floated  sweetly 
across  the  cool  river  as  the  train  halted  at  Garrison's 
for  a  few  moments,  before  he  had  morosely  reviewed 
all  the  dismal  events  which  brought  him  a  lonely 
stranger  back  to  New  York. 

Erastus  Vreeland,  a  lawyer  of  no  mean  accomplish 
ment,  had  destined  his  only  son  for  the  bar. 


8  IN  THE  SWIM. 

The  elder  Vreeland  was  a  human  spider,  who  had 
finally  gravitated  downward  into  the  exercise  of  only 
the  meaner  craft  of  his  much-abiised  profession. 

For  long  years,  in  his  little  office  on  William  Street 
he  had  legally  carried  on  the  intrigues  of  a  daring 
band  of  clients  who  rightly  should  have  ornamented 
the  Academy  of  Belles-Lettres  of  New  York  at  Sing 
Sing. 

During  the  life  of  his  hoodwinked  wife,  Vreeland 
ptre  led  a  double  existence  of  more  or  less  moral 
turpitude,  and,  at  last,  a  shameless  and  successful  coup 
of  rascality  aroused  the  ire  of  a  great  financial  com 
pany. 

It  was  his  "notice  to  quit,"  and  after  the  death  of 
his  wife,  Erastus  Vreeland  "swung  round  the  distant 
circle,"  often  followed  by  the  declasst  lawyer. 

Omaha,  Leadville,  Salt  Lake,  Los  Angeles,  and 
other  Western  cities  finally  knew  his  fox-like  cunning 
and  gradually  weakening  grip. 

A  political  affray,  the  result  of  a  heated  election 
in  Montana,  had  been  the  occasion  of  the  elder 
Vreeland 's  sudden  taking  off. 

And  so,  the  man  who  had  never  learned  the  homely 
adage  that  "corruption  wins  not  more  than  honesty,  " 
slept  far  away  from  his  fathers  on  the  rocky  hillsides 
of  Helena,  in  wild  Montana.  It  was  a  miserable 
summation  of  failures. 

The  hegira  of  the  father  had  left  the  son  stranded 
in  life  at  the  start  upon  his  finishing  the  four  years 
at  Princeton  which  had  made  him  an  expert  in  all 
the  manly  arts  save  any  definite  plan  of  money-getting. 

A  still  self-deceiving  man,  Erastus  Vreeland  had 
hopefully  invited  his  son  to  share  the  suggested  exile, 
and  thus,  the  plan  of  the  law  course  for  the  junior  was 


IN  THE  SWIM.  9 

perforce  abandoned.  It  had  not  been  long  till  father 
and  son  drifted  coldly  apart. 

The  mean,  shabby  moral  nature  of  the  demoralized 
elder  could  not  long  impose  upon  the  quick-witted 
youth.  The  slights  of  the  bench,  the  slurs  of  the 
bar,  the  wasp-like  thrusts  of  a  bold  frontier  press,  all 
proved  that  the  "trail  of  the  serpent"  followed  on 
after  the  talented  weakling  whose  professional  honor 
was  never  proof  against  gold  or  gain  secured  from 
either  side. 

And  so,  with  only  a  hypocritical  pretense  of  a 
certain  lingering  friendly  feeling,  the  two  men  had 
finally  parted,  dividing  a  few  hundred  dollars  which 
were  the  remains  of  a  retainer  in  a  case,  which 
deftly  went  wrong  on  its  trial,  sold  out,  to  the  benefit 
of  lawyer  Vreeland 's  adversary.  Then  came  the 
bloody  finale — and,  and — exit  Vreeland  pater! 

Harold  Vreeland  sighed  in  disgust  as  he  recalled  the 
five  lost  years  of  his  golden  youthful  promise. 

"It's  all  rot,  "  he  muttered,  "this  idea  that  the  loafer 
life  of  the  far  West  gives  either  scope,  strength,  or  cour 
age  to  any  man.  It  is  all  mere  barbarism,  and  only  a 
windy  discounting  of  a  future  which  never  comes. 
A  long,  bootless  struggle  with  the  meaner  conditions 
of  life." 

He  recalled  his  varied  experiences  as  notary  public, 
deputy  county  clerk,  cashier  of  a  shoddy  bank — a  con 
cern  which  "folded  its  Arabian  tents"  in  six  months. 

Real  estate  dealer  he  had  been  in  several  aspiring 
"  boom  towns, "  and  also,  secretary  of  many  frontier 
"wind"  corporations,  whose  beautifully  engraved 
stock  certificates  were  now  either  carried  around  in 
the  pocketbooks  of  dupes  or  else  stuck  up  in  Western 
saloons,  to  the  huge  edification  of  the  ungodly. 


io  IN  THE  SWIM. 

This  strange  wandering  life  had  made  him  a  fox  in 
cunning,  though  not  as  yet  a  ravening  wolf,  for  there 
was  little  to  prey  upon  in  those  dreary  distant 
Occidental  preserves.  But,  his  fangs  were  well 
sharpened  for  the  fray. 

He  realized,  as  the  lights  of  Haverstraw  gleamed 
out  "beyond  the  swelling  tide,"  that  he  was  as  yet 
without  any  definite  plan  of  operations. 

A  singular  incident,  illustrative  of  the  roughly 
good-humored  social  code  of  the  wild  West  had  caused 
him  to  seek  the  city  of  Manhattan. 

The  political  clique  which  had  coolly  plotted  the 
murder  of  his  crafty  father,  with  a  last  generous 
twinge  of  conscience,  had  sent  all  the  private  papers 
of  the  defunct  lawyer  over  to  his  son,  who  was 
listlessly  engaged  at  the  time  in  endeavoring,  on  a 
net  cash  capital  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  to  float 
a  ten  million  dollar  corporation,  in  order  to  utilize  cer 
tain  waste  energy  of  those  foaming  falls  of  the  Spo 
kane  River,  which  have  so  long  caused  both  the  salmon 
and  the  Indians  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  trouble. 

And  then,  young  Vreeland  wearily  explored  those 
ashes  of  life — the  "papers  in  the  case"  of  the  defunct. 

The  unwelcome  discovery  of  many  evidences  of  his 
father's  shame  and  the  revealing  of  all  that  secret 
life  which  had  sent  his  patient  mother  to  the  shadowy 
bourne  of  heartbroken  wives,  was  somewhat  miti 
gated  by  the  discovery  of  a  paid-up  policy  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  in  the  great  "Acqueduct  Life  Insur 
ance  of  New  York  City. " 

There  was,  as  usual,  some  strings  and  filaments 
hanging  out  loosely  knotted  up,  and  it  had  been  a 
labor  of  months,  involving  a  correspondence  of  some 
acerbity,  for  him  to  obtain  letters  of  administration, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  II 

close  up  his  father's  "estate,"  and  depart  to  Gotham 
to  receive  a  check  for  seven  thousand  dollars  in  full 
settlement  of  the  claim. 

On  the  road  over  from  Spokane,  Mr.  Harold  Vree- 
land  had  carefully  counted  all  his  ships.  He  had 
even  gone  over  all  his  own  abortive  attempts  at 
opening  any  useful  career,  and  so,  on  this  summer 
evening,  he  gloomily  felt  how  poorly  prepared  he 
was  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  against  the  keen  com 
petition  and  increasing  pressure  of  his  peers  in  New 
York  City. 

"If  I  had  only  my  father's  profession,  I  would  have 
a  chance  to  get  in  among  these  fellows,  and  I  would 
soon  have  my  share  of  the  gate  money, ' '  he  growled. 

"But  to  take  a  place  in  the  line  of  mere  drudges,  to 
sink  down  into  the  death  in  life  of  a  hall  room  and  a 
cheap  boarding-house.  Once  planted  there,  I  am 
there  forever.  And  I  have  not  a  friend  in  the  whole 
world!" 

His  mental  harvest  had  only  been  one  of  husks, 
and  he  keenly  felt  the  absence  of  any  definite  calling 
pour  accrocher, 

Suddenly  his  eye  caught  the  gleam  of  a  sunset  upon 
a  dozen  drifting,  glittering  white  sails  on  the  river. 

They  all  seemed  to  float  on  serenely,  borne  along 
upon  the  broad  tide,  with  no  visible  man 's  hand  to 
guide. 

"I  will  drift  a  while, "  he  murmured.  "I  have  a  few 
thousand  dollars.  Something  will  surely  turn  up. 
If  it  does  not, "  he  resolutely  said,  "then,  I  will  turn  it 
up  myself. " 

"There  are  women  here,  too — women  with  hearts 
of  flame,  and  who  are  to  be  won.  I  was  a  fool  ever 
to  go  out  to  the  frontier.  Perhaps — " 


12  IN  THE  SWIM. 

And  his  mind  reverted  to  a  lucky  college  chum  who 
had  married  a  woman  nearly  two  generations  older 
than  himself,  but  a  well-preserved  Madame  "Midas." 

"By  Jove!  anything  is  better  than  this  beastly 
poverty, "  he  mused.  "Even  that.  " 

"This  is  no  era  for  poor  men.  Poverty  is  the  only 
crime  nowadays. ' ' 

His  cynicism  was  broken  off  by  the  approach  of  two 
men,  who  rose  to  rejoin  friends  in  the  train  as  it 
dashed  along  toward  the  Bronx  River. 

As  they  came  up  the  smoking-car,  Vreeland  easily 
recognized  Fred  Hathorn,  the  stroke  of  the  college 
crew  in  which  he  had  once  won  hard-fought  honors  for 
the  orange. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  easy  luxury  which 
exhaled  from  Mr.  Fred  Hathorn  of  the  great  firm  of 
Hathorn  and  Potter,  bankers  and  brokers  of  dingy 
Wall  Street,  a  man  who  had  already  arrived ! 

The  first  crucial  glance  of  rapid  inspection  was 
not  lost  on  Vreeland,  as  Hathorn,  in  an  easy  way 
cried:  "Hello,  Hod  Vreeland!  What  brings  you 
over  here?" 

With  a  perfunctory  politeness,  Mr.  James  Potter 
halted  and  calmly  acknowledged  Hathorn 's  listless 
introduction. 

The  little  blonde  man-about-town,  however,  gazed 
longingly  ahead  at  the  car,  where  certain  fair  dames 
now  awaited  their  escorts. 

Jimmy  Potter  was  born  to  "no  end  of  easy  money, " 
and  so  his  dashing  senior  partner's  genius  for  finance 
was  strongly  buttressed  by  the  whirlwind  of  cash  which 
clustered  around  Jimmy  Potter 's  lucky  head. 

All  sorts  of  financial  bees  seemed  to  swarm  around 
Potter  and  quietly  settle  in  his  hive. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  13 

"What's  the  use  of  making  a  row?"  he  often  re 
marked.  "Sit  still,  and  what  you  want  in  life  will 
come  to  you."  Mr.  James  Potter  of  New  York  was 
an  Epicurean  disciple. 

The  blood  mounted  to  Vreeland's  forehead  as  he 
noted  all  the  deprecating  courtesy  of  Hathorn's 
welcome. 

'•'Damn  him!  I'll  give  him  a  bit  of  a  bluff,"  he 
quickly  decided,  under  the  inspiration  of  some  bold, 
familiar  spirit. 

There  was  an  air  of  quiet  comfort  in  the  careless 
response  of  Vreeland. 

' '  I  have  just  fallen  into  a  good  bit  of  money  by  my 
father's  death,  and  so  have  come  on  here  to  enjoy 
myself.  I  may  spend  a  couple  of  years  abroad. ' ' 

Vreeland  then  blessed  that  daring,  familiar  spirit 
which  so  saucily  suggested  his  "cheeky"  retort,  as 
the  man  who  had  been  his  chum  and  fellow  of  several 
Greek  letter  societies  stopped  short.  "Wait  for  me 
at  the  station,  old  fellow.  We  are  bothered  yet  with 
some  ladies.  They  leave  at  the  station.  Then  we 
will  dine  later  at  the  club  and  talk  over  old  times  a 
bit.  You'll  come,  too,  won't  you,  Potter?" 

Jimmy  Potter  carelessly  nodded  an  assent  from 
sheer  laziness,  and  then  the  two  members  of  the 
jeunesse  doree,  passed  on  into  the  boudoir  car. 

There  was  a  twinkle  of  triumph  in  Vreeland's  eye 
as  he  sank  back  in  his  seat. 

"I  got  a  dinner  out  of  you  at  any  rate,  Mr.  Snob," 
he  gleefully  chuckled. 

And,  highly  elated,  he  decided  then  and  there,  to 
vary  his  first  plan  of  drifting  with  the  tide,  and  to 
cautiously  put  his  oar  in  a  bit  where  it  would  help 
him  on. 


14  IN  THE  SWIM. 

His  step  was  as  light  as  the  tread  of  a  panther  when 
he  leaped  out  of  the  car  at  Forty-second  Street. 

"I'll  have  a  stolen  glance  at  their  women,"  he 
quickly  resolved.  "Perhaps  they  may  give  dinners, 
too." 

And  just  then,  there  seemed  to  be  the  twinkle  of  a 
little  star  of  Hope  lighting  up  that  devious,  unknown 
path  which  he  was  so  soon  to  tread. 

"I'll  let  him  give  me  a  Club  card,"  he  mused,  as  the 
wearied  passengers  hurried  along  to  brave  the  din  of 
importunate  jehus. 

He  was  wondering  how  much  of  a  social  show  he 
could  make  at  need  with  his  slender  fortune,  when 
the  two  men  slowly  approached  with  three  "shining 
ones"  of  the  golden  strata  of  womanly  New  York. 

"These  people  are  all  in  the  swim,"  he  murmured. 
"I  will  find  the  way!  I  am  as  good  as  any  of  them." 

And  as  he  raised  his  eyes,  he  met  the  glances  of  the 
imperial-looking  woman  who  was  Fred  Hathorn's 
companion. 

The  lady's  eyes  rested  for  a  moment  upon  the 
handsome  stranger,  and  then  fell  with  a  peculiar 
abruptness. 

"If  that  woman  plays  any  star  part  in  his  life,  I  will 
try  and  take  her  away  from  him,"  resolved  Vreeland, 
whose  whole  soul  was  now  thrilling  with  the  beautiful 
woman's  sudden,  startled  admission  of  interest  in  a 
passing  stranger.  The  wine  of  life  stirred  in  the 
young  wanderer's  veins. 

His  audacious,  familiar  sprite  suggested  the  pro 
found  bow  which  was  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland' s  first 
salutation  upon  the  outskirts  of  the  ' '  Four  Hundred. ' ' 

He  had  adroitly  managed  to  convey  the  respectful 
homage  of  the  salutation  by  his  velvety  eyes  to  the 


IN  THE  SWIM.  15 

very  person  intended,  for,  while  Jimmy  Potter  was 
placidly  listening  to  the  brilliant  chatter  of  two 
very  vivacious  rosebuds,  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby 
turned  to  Hathorn : 

"Fred,  who  is  your  Western  friend?"  she  asked, 
with  an  assumed  carelessness. 

It  was  by  sheer  good  luck  that  Hathorn,  who  was 
watching  the  young  millionairess  whom  he  was  soon 
to  marry,  answered  with  an  unusual  warmth : 

'  'An  old  college  chum — Vreeland  of  Princeton,  and 
a  rattling  good  fellow." 

Fred  Hathorn  eyed  with  a  certain  qualminess  the 
easy  aplomb  of  his  Croesus  partner,  as  Jimmy  Potter 
pressed  closely  to  the  side  of  Hathorn's  destined 
bride,  Miss  Moneybags. 

That  young  lady  was  destined  to  play  the  role  of 
Queen  of  Diamonds  in  the  ambitious  youngbanker '  slif  e. 

He  had  resolutely  set  up  the  motto,  "Aut  Ccesar, 
aut  nultus,"  and  he  was  just  a  bit  shy  of  the  beloved 
James  trifling  with  his  dashing  fiancee. 

"All  sorts  of  things  happen  in  New  York,"  mused 
the  agnostic  Hathorn,  as  he  handed  the  ladies  into  a 
waiting  victoria  and  then  turned  to  rejoin  the  man 
who  more  than  ever  had  now  decided  to  paddle  a  bit, 
as  well  as  to  drift  on  with  the  tide  of  fortune. 

There  was  a  glow  of  satisfaction  burning  in  the 
Western  adventurer's  heart  as,  half  an  hour  later, 
he  noted  Hathorn  dash  off  his  potent  signature  behind 
his  guest's  name  on  the  visitor's  book  of  the  Old 
York  Club.  It  was  the  open  sesame  to  the  regions  of 
the  blest — young  New  York  par  excellence. 

The  trio  adjourned  to  the  billiard  room,  and,  then 
and  there,  Vreeland  for  the  first  time  tasted  the 
famous  club  cocktail. 

2 


1 6  IN  THE  SWIM. 

He  was  "living up  to  his  blue  china,"  as  he  gravely 
bowed  when  Hathorn  gave  him  a  two- weeks'  card. 

"I'll  have  it  renewed  for  you,  old  fellow,"  lightly 
remarked  the  young  banker. 

"Pity  our  waiting  list  is  so  long.  We  must  try  to 
get  your  name  advanced,  by  hook  or  crook. ' ' 

While  Hathorn  departed  to  give  his  personal  orders 
for  the  dinner,  Jimmy  Potter  drew  apart  to  glance 
over  a  handful  of  cards,  letters  and  billets  'd' amour 
which  a  grave  old  club  steward  had  handed  to  him. 

He  critically  selected  two,  the  missives  of  "she  who 
must  be  obeyed,"  and  then  carelessly  slipped  the 
fardel  of  the  others  into  the  oblivion  of  his  breast 
pocket. 

He  sat  there,  the  ferret-eyed  young  millionaire, 
glowering  after  Hathorn's  retreating  form.  "Pity  to 
see  Alida  VanSittart  wasted  on  that  cold  human  calcu 
lating  machine!  Fred  is  as  indurated  as  a  steel 
chisel." 

The  little  child  of  Pactolus  felt  his  tiny  veins  still 
tingling  with  the  exhalant  magnetism  of  the  budding 
heiress  whom  Hathorn  had  selected  as  a  second  spoke 
in  that  wheel  of  fortune  of  which  the  unconscious 
Jimmy  was  the  main  stay. 

The  aforesaid  young  patrician,  Miss  Alida,  was 
"divinely  tall"  and  of  a  ravishing  moonlight  beauty, 
two  elements  of  ensnaring  witchery  to  the  dapper, 
blast  young  Midas,  whose  little  patent  leathers  had 
pattered  vainly  along  after  the  stride  of  that  elastic 
young  goddess. 

The  alert  Vreeland  grimly  eyed  the  eager  Jimmy 
Potter,  and  noted  the  tell-tale  quiver  of  the  youth's 
slim  fingers  as  he  fished  out  the  two  "star"  leaders 
of  his  evening  mail. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  17 

"I  would  like  just  one  night  with  that  chap  at  poker, 
with  no  limit, ' '  gravely  mused  Vreeland,  with  an  in 
spirational  sigh.  "He  looks  soft." 

While  the  parvenu  "sized  up"  his  man,  he  was 
aware  of  a  hum  of  murmured  comment  at  a  table  near 
him. 

Two  men  were  following  with  their  envious  eyes 
the  tall  form  of  the  fortunate  Hathorn — "the  very 
rose  and  expectancy  of  the  state,  "as  he  called  his 
myrmidons  around  him. 

' '  Lucky  devil  is  Hathorn, "  quoth  A.  ' '  Saw  him  get 
out  of  the  train  to-night  with  Mrs.  Wharton  Wil- 
loughby.  Potter  over  there  and  a  gang  of  girls  have 
been  up  at  Lakemere.  He  still  holds  her  fast. ' ' 

Quoth  B:  "He  has  a  regular  run  of  nigger  luck. 
Elaine  Willoughby  is  the  Queen  of  the  Street.  Her 
account  must  be  worth  a  cool  hundred  thousand  a 
year  to  the  firm.  And  hese  drops  in  to  him,  the  whole 
VanSittart  fortune,  a  cool  ten  millions.  " 

Vreeland  started  as  A  rejoined  moodily :  "I  had 
hoped  that  some  other  fellow  might  have  a  chance  to 
make  the  running  at  Lakemere,  now  that  Hathorn  is 
rang^;  but  it  really  seems  to  be  'a  petit  manage  a 
trois'  so  far. " 

And  B,  thereat,  enviously  growled:  "He  ought  to 
cling  to  the  generous  woman  who  made  him.  I 
always  thought  Hathorn  would  finally  marry  her.  She 

trusts  him  with  her  chief  account,  the deals. ' ' 

Vreeland  cursed  the  caution  which  cost  him  that  one 
keyword  "but,  there's  a  mystery.  " 

It  was  with  a  wolfish  hunger  for  "more  sweetness 
and  light"  that  the  unmoved  Vreeland  deftly  arose 
and  followed  his  host  and  Potter  to  a  fair  upper 
chamber  of  that  narrow-chested  corner  club  house  on 

2 


1 8  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Fifth  Avenue  in  the  thirties,  at  whose  critic-infested 
windows  both  Miss  Patricia  and  Miss  Anonyma 
"give  a  side  glance  and  look  down. " 

The  royal  road  to  fortune  which  had  led  the 
ambitious  Hathorn  "on  the  heights"  seemed  to  be 
clear  of  mist  now  to  his  .hypocritical  visitor. 

Was  there  room  for  another  chariot  in  the  race? 
The  familiar  sprite  was  busy  with  daring  suggestions. 

If  a  rich  woman — not  of  an  age  tr£s  tendre — had 
made  one  man,  some  other  woman  of  that  ilk  might 
be  waiting  with  a  willing  heart  in  the  babel  of 
Gotham  for  the  shapely  young  Lochinvar  come  out 
o'  the  West. 

The  fires  of  hope  leaped  through  his  veins. 

As  they  seated  themselves  to  the  enjoyment  of  that 
particular  clear  turtle  soup  which  is  justly  the  pride 
of  the  club  chef,  both  host  and  guest  were  adroitly 
playing  at  cross-purposes. 

Hathorn,  with  a  secret  avidity  entirely  New  York- 
ish,  determined  to  find  out  all  the  details  of  Vree- 
land's  financial  windfall. 

He  had  a  vague  idea  that  the  outlandish  wilds  of 
Montana  were  stuffed  with  copper  mines,  gold  ledges, 
silver  leads,  cattle  ranches,  and  "all  sorts  of  things 
that  might  be  gotten  hold  of,"  i.  e.,  other  people's 
money. 

And  if  this  placid  and  lamb-like  blonde  guest  had 
"dropped  into  a  good  thing,"  then  by  a  judicious  use 
of  a  regulated  social  hospitality,  Hathorn  now  pro 
posed  to  "drop  into  that  same  good  thing.  " 

An  uneasy  fever  seems  to  burn  in  a  New  York 
man's  blood  from  the  moment  when  he  knows  his 
neighbor  to  have  an  unprotected  penny. 

The  keen-eyed  Vreeland  minutely    examined    his 


IN  THE  SWIM.  19 

old  chum's  "get-up,"  and  quickly  decided  that  he 
would  closely  copy  this  easily  graceful  "glass  of 
fashion  and  mould  of  form. ' ' 

He  had  already  resolved  that  he  would  also  try  to 
make  a  "run  in"  at  Lakemere,  if  the  cards  came 
his  way. 

' '  I  could  always  give  Fred  ten  points  at  billiards  and 
twenty  with  the  women,  and  then  do  him  every  time, ' ' 
mused  Vreeland.  "He  only  plays  a  sure-thing 
game. ' ' 

Vreeland's  own  motto  had  always  been  "De 
I'audace!  Toujours  de  Vaudace!"  and  in  fact,  the 
root  of  his  quarrel  with  his  own  cowardly  father  had 
been  the  sniveling,  self-deprecatory  caution  of  that 
'  'Old-man-afraid-of-his-record. " 

The  little  dinner  was  "trh-soigne,"  for  Mr.  Fred 
Hathorn  did  everything  "decently  and  in  order,"  and 
it  calmly  proceeded  to  the  gastronomic  delight  of 
a  pleasure-loving  man  who  had  long  nibbled  at  jerked 
elk  and  biscuits  a  la  Mike  Muldoon. 

The  wines,  with  their  soft  suggestion  and  insinu 
ating  succession,  soon  led  them  up  to  the  point  where 
Fred  felt  that  he  "had  his  man  about  right." 

The  shame-faced  Potter,  with  his  mandatory  billets 
from  "She,"  burning  under  his  waistcoat,  soon  mum 
bled  several  iron-clad  excuses  of  unnecessary  mendacity 
about  "seeing  a  man,"  and  then  gladly  escaped, 
hustling  himself  into  the  hack  with  all  the  fond 
expectancy  of  a  man  who  bought  quite  unnecessary 
diamond  necklaces  loyally  and  cheerfully  for  that 
queen  of  bright  eyes,  Miss  Dickie  Doubleday  of  the 
Casino. 

When  the  old  college  comrades  were  left  alone, 
even  the  shaven  servitor  having  fled,  over  the  cigars 


20  IN  THE  SWIM. 

of  the  incomparable  Bock  &  Co.,  the  two  young  men 
drifted  into  a  considerable  rapprochement. 

The  old  friendly  days  came  back.  Chateau  Yquem, 
Pontet  Canet,  fine  Burgundy,  and  Pommery  Sec  have 
often  mended  many  a  torn  thread  in  the  web  of  friend 
ship,  as  well  as  patched  up  the  little  rift  in  the  Lute  of 
Love.  Your  sweet  devil-born  spirit  of  champagne 
always  stands  smiling  at  the  crossroads  of  life. 

"And,  both  reviewed  the  olden  past — 
Full  many  a  friend,  in  battle  slain, 
And  all  the  war  that  each  had  known, 
Rose  o'er  them  once  again." 

The  dinner  was  a  "howling  success"  from  the 
varying  points  of  view  of  each  sly  schemer  and  his 
would-be  dupe. 

Hathorn  smiled  knowingly  when  Vreeland  care 
lessly  remarked  that  he  was  not  familiar  with  the  dry 
details  of  Montana  investments. 

'  'I  leave  all  that  drudgery  to  my  lawyers, ' '  he  airily 
remarked,  with  all  the  nerve  of  a  Napoleon  Ives. 

"I  must  try  and  work  his  account  in  our  direction," 
mused  the  ardent  devotee  of  business,  while  Vreeland 
gracefully  bowed  his  thanks,  when  Hathorn  rejoined: 

"Mrs.  Willoughby?  Yes.  A  wonderful  woman. 
Prettiest  place  at  Irvington.  She  entertains  a  great 
deal.  I'll  ask  her  if  I  may  present  you.  She's 
probably  the  heaviest  operator  on  the  Street  of  all  our 
rich  women." 

It  was  long  after  midnight  when  the  two  chums 
separated. 

Their  strange  life  orbits  had  intersected  for  the 
first  time  since  they  sang  "Lauriger  Horatius" 
together  in  an  honest,  youthful  chorus. 

Mr.    Harold  Vreeland  now  felt  intuitively  that  his 


IN  THE  SWIM.  21 

"bluff"  was  a  good  one.  He  had  always  battled  skill 
fully  enough  in  the  preliminary  skirmishes  of  his 
conflict  with  the  world,  but  he  felt  that  the  scene  of 
action  had  been  poorly  chosen. 

Hard-hearted  and  pitiless,  he  cursed  the  memory  of 
his  corrupt  and  inefficient  father,  as  he  directed  his 
lonely  steps  to  the  '  'Waldorf, "  to  register  his  name  as 
a  permanent  guest. 

His  heart  beat  no  throb  warmer  in  acknowledg 
ment  of  the  seven  thousand  dollars'  windfall  which  was 
to  bring  his  star  up  from  an  obscure  western  declina 
tion  to  a  brilliant  eastern  right  ascension. 

He  delivered  his  luggage  checks  to  the  night  clerk 
of  New  York's  greatest  hotel,  and  proudly  inscribed 
himself  as  a  member  of  the  "swell  mob"  filling  that 
painted  Vanity  Fair. 

A  strange  fire  burned  within  his  veins.  He  recalled 
Fred  Hathorn's  final  semi-confidential  remark:  "Do 
you  know  anything  of  handling  stocks?  If  you  do, 
we  could  put  you  up  to  a  good  thing  or  two  on  the 
Street  now." 

It  was  no  lie.  The  glib  story  which  had  fallen 
easily  from  his  lips  of  the  six-months'  exciting 
experience  in  which  he  acted  as  dummy  cashier  for 
a  San  Francisco  kite-flying  "Big  Board"  firm  of 
brokers  during  a  sporadic  revival  of  the  "Comstock 
craze." 

He  had  learned  then  how  to  '  'wipe  out  a  margin"  as 
deftly  as  the  veriest  scamp  who  ever  signed  a  fraudu 
lent  "statement"  for  reckless  man  or  sly,  insinuating 
woman. 

He  had  artfully  led  Fred  Hathorn  on  to  describe 
the  unique  position  of  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby 
among  the  bravest  of  the  swim.  The  New  Yorker 


22  IN  THE  SWIM. 

was  over-eager  in  his  fencing,  and  so  Vreeland  easily 
gathered  him  in. 

Lighting  a  cigar,  he  strolled  along  the  silent  Fifth 
Avenue,  arranging  with  quick  decision  his  preliminary 
maneuvers. 

"This  lovely  woman  who  has  built  up  Hathorn 
must  surely  have  a  vacancy  in  her  heart  at  present, 
vice  Hathorn,  'transferred  for  promotion'  to  head  the 
VanSittart  millions." 

"It's  a  good  play  to  come  in  between  them  now. 
He  will  never  suspect  my  game,  but  I'll  block  his 
little  scheme  some  way,  unless  he  carries  me  along 
upward.  He  evidently  wishes  to  be  rid  of  the  old 
rapprochement  now,  and  yet  not  lose  her  stock  business. 
By  Jove!  I  would  like  to  cut  in  there.  " 

He  strolled  along  toward  the  ' '  Circassia, ' '  that  pink 
pearl  of  all  sumptuous  apartment  palaces,  and  eagerly 
reconnoitered  the  superb  citadel  of  Elaine  Wil- 
loughby's  social  fortifications. 

"Lakemere,  a  dream  of  beauty,"  he  murmured. 
"I'll  soon  get  into  that  same  gilded  circle,  and  work 
the  whole  set  for  all  they  are  worth. ' ' 

He  plumed  himself  upon  the  approving  glance  of 
the  beautiful  brown  eyes  of  the  mistress  of  Lake- 
mere  as  she  had  swept  by  on  Fred  Hathorn' s  arm. 

"She  accepted  my  bow  as  an  evident  homage  to 
h'er  own  queenly  self, ' '  mused  Vreeland,  who  was  no 
dabster  at  reading  the  ways  of  the  mutable  woman 
heart. 

"Yes,  she  is  my  first  play.  I  must  burn  my  ships 
and  now  go  boldly  in  for  'High  Life.'  I'll  risk  it. 
Carlisle  said :  'There  are  twenty  millions  of  people 
in  Britain — mostly  fools. '  Among  the  gilded  fools  of 
Gotham,  some  one  easy  mark  must  be  waiting  for  me 


IN  THE  SWIM.  23 

on  general  principles.  I'll  take  the  chances  and  play 
the  queen  for  my  whole  stack  of  chips. ' ' 

He  wandered  homeward,  after  narrowly  inspecting 
the  ' '  Circassia, ' '  and  unconsciously  attracting  the 
attention  of  Daly,  the  Roundsman,  the  bravest  and 
cheeriest  member  of  the  Tenderloin  police. 

Lights  still  gleamed  from  a  splendid  second-floor 
apartment  above  him,  where  a  lovely  woman,  royal 
in  her  autumnal  beauty,  gazed  out  at  the  night. 

Elaine  Willoughby  sighed  as  she  turned  away.  "If 
I  had  told  Hathorn  all,  he  might  have  made  me  his 
wife.  Alida — "  Her  face  hardened  as  she  choked 
down  a  sob.  ' '  My  God !  if  I  only  knew !  I  must  have 
Endicott  renew  his  search. ' ' 

In  some  strange  way,  the  handsome  Western 
stranger  returned  to  haunt  her  disturbed  mind.  "He 
looks  like  a  man  brave,  gallant,  and  tender,"  she 
sighed,  as  she  forgot  Hathorn,  who,  in  his  bachelor 
apartments  was  now  musing  upon  the  ways  and 
means  to  hold  Elaine  Willoughby's  heart  after  he  had 
wedded  Miss  Millions. 


24  IN  THE  SWIM. 


CHAPTER    II. 
THE  DRIFT  OF  A  DAY  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

Sparkling  lances  of  golden  morning  sunbeams  broke 
and  shivered  on  the  fretted  golden  roof  of  the  Syna 
gogue  by  Central  Park's  eastern  wall  of  living  green. 

New  York  was  astir  once  more,  and  the  daily 
burden  of  life  settled  down  again  upon  myriads  of 
galled  shoulders.  The  rumbling  trains  had  rattled 
away  the  blue-bearded  mechanic,  the  pale-faced 
clerk,  and  the  ferret-eyed  anaemic  shop  girl  to  their 
daily  "demnition  grinds"  long  before  Elaine 
Willoughby  opened  her  eyes,  in  the  Circassia. 

"A  breeze  of  morning  moved,"  and  down  the  Mall 
early  pedestrians  wandered,  while  the  bridle  bits  rang 
out  merrily  on  the  park  cantering  paths. 

Sedentary  citizens  had  strolled  along  into  the  leafy 
shades  for  a  peep  at  a  cherished  book,  or  a  glance  at 
the  horrible  of  horribles  in  the  "New  York  Whirl," 
while  the  recumbent  tramp  shook  himself  and  hope 
fully  scuttled  forth  from  his  grassy  lair  to  search  for 
vinous  refreshment  and  to  craftily  elude  the  inexorable 
"sparrow  cop." 

New  York  City  was  awakened  in  the  inverse  order 
of  rank,  and  the  passion  play  of  Gotham  was  on  once 
more. 

The  splintered  lances  danced  over  the  fragrant 
God's  acres  of  the  great  pleasure  ground  to  the  palace 
on  Central  Park  west,  and  as  they  were  gaily  reflected 


IN  THE  SWIM.  25 

from  a  silver-framed  Venetian  mirror,  they  recalled 
Mrs.  Wharton  Willoughby  to  that  luxurious  life  of 
Gotham  in  whose  fierce  splendors  there  is  no  rest. 

For  as  burning  a  flame  throbs  in  the  heated  mael 
strom  of  Manhattan  as  in  any  human  eddy  of  the 
whole  distracted  globe. 

The  congestion  of  careworn  faces  had  filled  the 
town  below  Canal  Street  with  its  battling  disciples  of 
Mammon  long  before  Mrs.  Wharton  Willoughby 
stepped  into  her  brougham  to  seek  the  counsels  of 
the  one  man  on  earth  whose  integrity  was  her  rock  of 
Gibraltar,  Judge  Hiram  Endicott,  her  legal  adviser 
and  trustee. 

For  the  silver-framed  mirror  had  relentlessly 
reflected  the  traces  left  by  the  vigil  of  the  night 
before. 

It  was  the  morning  after  the  storm,  and  no  calm 
had  yet  soothed  the  troubled  soul  of  the  woman  whom 
thousands  envied. 

With  a  fine  Gallic  perception,  Justine,  the  black- 
browed,  slyest  of  French  maids,  had  remarked: 
'''Madame  ri1  a  pas  bien  dormi?"  as  she  arranged  the 
filmy  coffee  service  of  Dresden  eggshell. 

Elaine  Willoughby  was  sullen,  but  resolute,  as  she 
arranged  the  details  of  her  morning  interview  by 
the  Ariel  magic  of  her  private  telephone. 

The  ceaseless  activity  of  the  Street  compelled  the 
veiled  "queen"  to  have  her  own  "intelligence  depart 
ment"  adjoining  her  boudoir,  a  nook  with  its  special 
wires  leading  to  Hiram  Endicott's  office  and  even  to 
his  sober  Park  Avenue  home,  and  its  talking  wire 
also  extended  to  the  private  office  of  Frederick  Hat- 
horn,  Esq.,  of  Hathorn  and  Potter,  and  another  handy 
wire  leading  to  the  lair  where  the  cashier  of  the 


26  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Chemical   Bank  scanned  the  ebb   and   flow  of  Mrs. 
Elaine  Willoughby's  fortune. 

A  stock  ticker  and  dial  telegraph,  binding  the  cen 
tral  office  of  the  Western  U  nion  to  the  Circassia,  were 
always  stumbling  blocks  to  the  insidious  Justine,  who 
earned  a  vicious  golden  wage  in  piping  off  every 
movement  of  the  queen  to  the  adroit  Fred  Hathorn. 

On  this  particular  morning,  Hathorn  was  disturbed 
at  heart  as  he  answered  Justine's  spying  warning  of 
Mrs.  Willoughby's  early  departure  for  her  down 
town  coign  of  vantage — that  room  in  Judge  Endicott's 
offices  in  the  Hanover  Bank  building,  which  was 
terra  incognita  even  to  him.  The  corner  of  Pine  and 
Nassau  was  an  Ehrenbreitstein. 

For  Hathorn's  acutest  schemes  had  never  yet 
given  him  the  open  sesame  to  the  room  adjoining 
Hiram  Endicott's  study  bearing  the  simple  inscrip 
tion  "Office  Willoughby  Estate." 

There,  Madame  Elaine  was  safe,  even  from  him. 

He  grumbled:  "I  don't  half  like  the  way  Elaine 
eyed  Alida  VanSittart  yesterday.  There  was  a  storm 
signal  in  my  lady's  glances.  If  she  should  draw  away 
her  account — " 

He  shuddered,  for  he  was  well  overdrawn  in  his 
personal  relations  with  Mr.  Jimmy  Potter,  who  had 
just  meekly  slunk  into  his  office,  with  quivering 
nerves  and  much  pink-eyed  indications  of  the  after 
math  of  "a  cosy  little  evening  at  Miss  Dickie  Double- 
day's." 

"I  must  keep  her  well  in  hand  till  I  pull  off  the 
marriage.  Sugar  is  on  the  jump,  too.  There's  a 
half  million  if  I  follow  her  sure  lead. 

"By  God!  I  would  give  ten  years  of  my  life  to 
know  who  posts  her  in  that  saccharine  article  of 


IN  THE  SWIM.  27 

prime  necessity.  I  will  give  her  something  to  inter 
est  her.  Yes;  the  very  thing!  I'll  run  in  Hod 
Vreeland  there. 

"He  is  a  new  face,  and  she  may  forget  to  harry 
Alida  in  the  new  man's  initiation  at  Lakemere.  And 
I'll  go  lip  and  see  her  this  afternoon  myself." 

When  he  had  telephoned  his  carefully-worded 
message  to  Justine,  to  be  delivered  to  Mrs.  Wil- 
loughby  on  her  return,  he  ordered  a  basket  of 
orchids  to  precede  his  call  at  the  Circassia,  and  then, 
with  a  fine  after-thought,  telegraphed  "Mr.  Harold 
Vreeland,  Hotel  Waldorf,"  to  await  his  call  on 
important  business  after  dinner. 

"If  I  am  going  to  use  Vreeland,  I  may  as  well  put 
him  into  play  right  now,"  cheerfully  mused  Hathorn, 
as  he  lit  a  Prince  of  Wales  cigarette. 

"I  can  pay  that  devil  Justine  a  bit  extra  to  watch 
Hod  Vreeland's  little  game  with  Elaine. 

"A  bit  of  healthy  flirtation  may  cause  her  to  forget 
Alida  shining  her  down. 

"Whirlwind  speculator  as  she  is,  the  Willoughby  is 
one  of  Eve's  family,  after  all.  'But  yet  a  woman!' 
I  wonder  if — " 

His  reverie  was  cut  off  by  the  entrance  of  Mr. 
Jimmy  Potter,  who  calmly  remarked:  "Sugar  is 
going  hell  ward!  You  had  better  get  out  and  see 
about  where  we  will  land!" 

Mr.  Fred  Hathorn  had  unwittingly  passed  one  of 
the  cross-roads  of  life  and  a  knowledge  of  his  pro 
posed  actions  would  have  been  Balm  of  Gilead  to  the 
anxious  soul  of  Harold  Vreeland,  who  was  busily 
engaged  with  the  great  tailor,  Bell — manufacturer  of 
gentlemen  a  la  mode. 

The  crafty  Vreeland's  heart  would  have  bounded 


28  IN  THE  SWIM. 

had  he  realized  how  true  was  the  debonnair  Jimmy 
Potter's  one  golden  maxim.  "Hold  on  quietly,  and 
what  you  want  will  come  around  to  you!" 

The  arched  doors  of  the  Circassia,  the  superb  gate 
ways  of  Lakemere  were  being  slowly  swung  for  him, 
by  the  scheming  man  who  cunningly  proposed  to 
divert  the  Montana  bonanza  into  the  coffers  of  Hathorn 
and  Potter. 

Mr.  Potter,  in  his  pink-eyed  awakening  from  a 
night's  folly,  was  now  standing  at  the  bar  of  the 
Savarin,  gloomily  reflecting  upon  certain  rashnesses  of 
his  own  on  the  preceding  evening. 

These  little  extravaganzas,  greatly  to  the  profit 
and  delight  of  Miss  Dickie  Doubleday,  had  been  all 
unsolicited  by  that  sinewy-hearted  young  beauty. 

"The  biggest  fool  in  the  world  is  the  man  who  fools 
himself!"  sadly  ejaculated  Potter,  as  he  shed  his 
burden  of  care  with  the  half  dollar  dropped  for  a 
"highball." 

He  crept  back  to  watch  Fred  Hathorn  battling  in 
the  Sugar  pit,  with  all  the  admiration  of  a  faineant 
for  an  energetic  man. 

"Great  fellow,  Fred!"  proudly  reflected  Mr.  Jimmy, 
with  one  last  wormwood  pang  for  the  robbery  of  that 
young  Diana,  Alida  VanSittart. 

"She  outclasses  him  —  ranks  him  —  clean  out  of 
sight!"  sadly  mourned  Potter.  "Now,  if  I  was  only 
clear  of  the  Doubleday,  I  might — " 

But,  an  aching  head  cut  short  his  half-formed 
determination. 

"I  suppose  that  she  is  like  all  the  others!"  sighed 
Potter. 

"These  New  York  girls'  hearts  are  like  a  ball  of 
string,  unwind  the  thing — and — there's  nothing  left!" 


IN  THE  SWIM.  29 

Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby,  on  her  way  down  town, 
had  stolen  another  glimpse  at  her  own  disturbed 
face.  The  crise  des  nerfs  had  clearly  brought  out  to 
her  the  presaged  passing  of  her  beauty. 

The  little  hand  glass  of  the  brougham  told  her, 
with  brutal  abruptness,  that  the  face  she  was  gravely 
studying  must  pale  before  the  moonlight  radiance  of 
Alida  VanSittart. 

Face  to  face  with  her  own  sorrow,  she  saw  the  truth 
at  last.  Was  it  envy  of  the  nymph-like  girl  or  a  dull 
hatred  of  Hathorn,  for  his  cold  ingratitude,  which 
racked  her  heart? 

"Perhaps,  if  I  had  told  him  all, "  she  murmured, 
"I  will  find  out  the  lost  link  of  my  life  yet,  and  there 
must  be  a  man  somewhere  who  would  prove  worthy 
of  a  woman 's  whole  confidence. 

"One  who  could  wander  in  le  Jardin  Secret,  by 
my  side!" 

As  she  studied  her  own  face,  with  a  needless  self- 
deprecation,  there  came  back  to  her  the  handsome 
Western  stranger. 

"Perhaps,  "she  dreamily  said,  as  her  mind  wandered 
away  to  the  great  dim  Sierras,  "uplifting  their  minarets 
of  snow, "  "he  may  have  caught  their  majestic  secret  of 
truth  and  lofty  freedom. ' ' 

And — she,  too,  drifted  on  to  a  cross-road  of  life. 

Elaine  Willoughby  had  finished  her  inspection  of 
the  counterfeit  presentment  afforded  by  the  little 
mirror. 

Though  matters  of  both  head  and  heart  claimed  all 
the  exercise  of  her  mental  powers  on  this  morning, 
she  was  lost  in  a  vexing  comparison  of  her  own 
personal  charms  with  those  of  Alida  VanSittart. 

The  lady  had  never  fathomed  the  reason  why  the 


30  IN  THE  SWIM. 

wise  Thales  had  formulated  his  priceless  proverb  of 
three  words  into  the  cramped  diction,  "Man!  Know 
Thyself!" 

The  antique  sage  wisely  refrained  from  saying, 
'  'Woman !  Know  Thyself ! ' '  for,  far  beyond  the  clouds 
wrapping  the  misty  ruins  of  Greece,  Rome  and  the 
Nile,  the  woman  of  yesterday  never  had  been  the 
woman  of  to-day,  nor  her  chameleon  substitute  of 
to-morrow. 

The  only  thing  unvarying  in  womanhood,  is  its 
infinite  emotional  variety.  Not  one  in  a  million  of 
that  charming  sex  has  ever  mastered  the  secret  of 
their  strange  enigmas  of  varying  loves,  and  the 
one  only  anchored  feeling  of  motherhood. 

The  divine  Shakespeare's  words,  "'Tis  brief!  Aye 
— as  woman's  love!"  are  supplemented  by  the  great 
hearted  Mrs.  Browning's  feminine  lines,  "Yes!  I 
answered  you  last  night.  No !  this  morning,  sir,  I  say ! ' ' 

Elaine  Willoughby  did  not  know  herself.  She  reso 
lutely  put  away  the  reason  why  she  ignored  all  the 
hawk-eyed  young  Gibson  beauties  of  Irvington,  Tarry- 
town,  and  Ardsley,  to  nourish  a  resentment  alone 
against  that  slim  Diana,  Alida  VanSittart. 

Woman  of  the  world,  throned  upon  a  golden  pedes 
tal  of  wealth — mistress  of  secrets  that  would  shake 
the  financial  world — she  had  also  enjoyed  the  homage 
of  men  long  enough  to  know  every  one  of  her  own 
good  points. 

There  had  been  hours  of  triumph,  too.  For,  after 
all,  a  woman's  heart  beat  behind  the  silken  armor  of 
her  Worth  robes. 

Still  in  the  bloom  of  a  meridian  beauty,  no  one  in 
Gotham  knew  but  Hiram  Endicott  that  her  years 
were  thirty-seven. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  31 

Her  brunette  loveliness  of  face  was  accentuated  by 
the  molded  symmetry  of  her  Venus  de  Milo  form. 

Men  knew  her  only  as  the  childless  widowed  chate 
laine  of  Lakemere,  the  inheritor  of  a  vast  fortune 
hazily  dating  from  Colorado. 

A  few  cold  words  from  that  oracle,  Judge  Hiram 
Endicott,  had  dispelled  any  doubts  as  to  the  authen 
ticity  of  the  late  Wharton  Willoughby. 

The  checks  of  the  woman  whom  all  had  failed  to 
win  were  considered  among  the  cognoscenti  as  gilt- 
edged  as  Treasury  Certificates. 

The  grave  glances  of  her  sole  attorney  and  trustee 
were  also  a  no  thoroughfare  to  prying  gossipers,  and 
it  was  only  by  a  long  series  of  stealthy  financial  sleuth 
work  that  the  financial  world  discovered  both  "sugar" 
and  "oil"  to  be  as  granite  buttresses  to  the  unshaken 
pyramid  of  her  solid  wealth.  On  the  Street  she  was  a 
whirlwind  operator — with  "inside  tips!" 

As  the  brougham  swung  along  through  Pine  Street, 
Mrs.  Willoughby  caught  a  single  glimpse  of  Fred 
Hathorn,  eager-eyed,  and  hurrying  to  the  Stock 
Exchange. 

The  man  of  thirty-five  had  risen  to  be  a  clubman — 
a  yachtsman  of  renown — a  man  of  settled  fortune — 
and  a  social  lion,  too,  in  the  five  years  since  she  had 
opened  the  gates  of  her  heart  to  admit  the  handsome 
struggling  youth,  then  paddling  feebly  in  Wall  Street's 
foaming  breakers. 

She  leaned  back  with  a  sigh.  Hathorn' s  sudden 
apparition  had  opened  her  eyes  to  the  reason  of  her 
dull  hatred  of  the  millionaire  fiancee. 

' '  He  is  the  reason  why  I  hate  that  girl, ' '  she  mur 
mured,  with  misty  lashes,  and  an  old  saw  came  back 
to  her. 

3 


3*  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"It  is  hard  to  look  out  on  a  lover's  happiness 
through  another  man's  eyes!" 

In  the  gilded  throng  at  Lakemere,  the  proprietary 
endearments  of  Frederick  Hathorn  had  galled  her 
stormy  soul.  She  knew  not  that  the  parvenu  broker 
was  only  publicly  sealing,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  pro 
jected  union  which  would  make  him  the  equal  in 
capitalistic  reserve  of  that  easy-going  Son  of  Fortune, 
Potter,  to  whom  all  things  came  around — even  Miss 
Dickie  Doubleday's  bills. 

A  ray  of  light  lit  up  her  darkened  heart. 

"Alida  is  innocent  of  wrecking  my  happiness.  She 
could  know  nothing.  For  I  have  been  silent !  And 
if  I  held  the  ladder,  can  I  blame  him  for  climbing? 
He  needs  me  no  longer. 

"I  have  been  only  a  means  to  an  end.  Alida  will 
be  the  last.  And  then,  Frederick  Hathorn,  Esquire, 
is  safely  in  the  swim!" 

A  sudden  conviction  of  the  uselessness  of  her  affec 
tation  of  a  semi-  maternal  interest  in  the  fortunes  of 
the  hardened  man  of  thirty-five  told  her  that  she  had 
left  all  the  doors  open  to  him. 

For  there  was  that  in  her  own  life,  dating  back  to 
her  girlhood,  which  she  had  never  even  revealed 
to  her  half -lover  prote'ge'. 

With  her  rich  womanly  nature  sorely  shaken,  her 
tender  dark  eyes  drooping,  she  now  owned  to  the 
hope,  now  fled  forever,  that  Hathorn  would  light  the 
beacon  of  love  in  her  lonely  heart.  "I  have  not 
trusted  him, ' '  she  murmured.  ' '  He  owes  me  nothing, 
nothing  but  gratitude." 

Too  late,  she  saw  that  mere  gratitude  does  not 
kindle  into  love,  and  a  sense  of  her  own  lack  of 
frankness  sealed  her  accusing  lips. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  33 

"I  can  not  blame  Hathorn!"  she  murmured.  "It  is 
my  own  fault.  I  told  him  the  truth,  but — not  the 
whole  truth!" 

Still,  she  suffered  from  the  shattering  of  flattering 
hopes  long  secretly  cherished,  and  saw  now  the  mar 
riage  of  her  financial  tteve  as  a  future  bar  to  the 
confidential  relations  which  had  linked  him  to  her 
fortunes  with  golden  chains. 

"They  will  go  on  and  play  the  game  of  life  bril 
liantly  without  me — these  two,  whom  I  have  unwit 
tingly  brought  together.  I  will  go  on  alone — now — 
to  the  end — unless  I  can  find  the  lost  thread. 

' '  Endicott  must  reopen  the  search !  I  will  spend  a 
half  million — and — that  other  heart  shall  know  mine!" 
She  was  lost  in  the  memories  of  a  buried  past. 

As  she  entered  the  vestibule  of  the  office  building, 
a  grave  manly  voice  aroused  her. 

"I  thought  that  you  should  know  this,"  whispered 
Hugh  Conyers,  of  the  New  York  Clarion.  "It  has 
just  come  over  the  wires  from  Washington. 

"I  was  going  up  to  tell  the  Judge,  and  have  him 
send  for  you.  You  will  have  a  busy  day. ' ' 

The  startled  woman  read  a  slip  which  was  the 
biirden  of  the  lightning  Ariel  which  had  set  "Sugar 
soaring  hellward"  in  the  classic  diction  of  James 
Potter,  Esq. 

"Hugh!"  gasped  the  Queen  of  the  Street,  as  she 
drew  him  into  a  dark  corner,  "can  I  never  reward 
you  for  your  loyalty?  Is  there  nothing  I  can  do  for 
you?" 

The  Knight  of  the  Pen  laughed  gaily,  as  he  pocketed 

the  yellow  slip.     "Not  now!  Lady  Mine!     You  paid 

in  advance  when  you  saved  Sara's  life  by  sending  her 

away  to  Algiers!     I'm  off  to  the  office.     When  you 

3 


34  IN  THE  SWIM. 

can  give  two  respectably  poor  people  an  evening,  send 
for  us,  that's  all — but,  we  want  you  all  to  ourselves! 

*'If  there  is  anything  more,  I  will  come  around. 
Shall  I  tell  this  to  Hathorn?"  His  eyes  were  fixed 
eagerly  upon  her. 

There  was  a  slight  ring  of  hardness  in  her  voice,  as 
she  hastily  said : 

"Not  a  word  to  him,  in  future.  He  is  going  to 
marry — and — go  away  for  a  time.  I  will  handle  this 
line  alone — after  this — only  report  to  the  Judge.  He 
is  my  Rock  of  Gibraltar.  " 

She  disappeared  in  the  elevator  with  a  hard  little 
laugh.  For  she  was  trying  to  make  light  of  the  blow 
which  had  told  upon  her  lonely  heart. 

The  newspaper  man  edged  his  way  up  Nassau  Street 
in  a  brown  study. 

"Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before,"  he 
muttered.  "I  wonder  if  she  will  ever  know?  Some 
day,  perhaps. " 

Darting  messenger  boys  and  disgruntled  pedestrians 
eyed  wrathfully  the  high-browed  man  of  forty,  who 
strode  along  with  his  gray  eyes  fixed  on  vacancy. 

One  or  two  "business  women"  noted  the  clean-cut, 
soldierly  features,  the  well-shaped  head,  with  all  the 
intellectual  stamp  of  old  Amherst,  brightened  by  the 
fierce  intellectual  rivalry  of  the  nervous  New  York 
press. 

Artist,  athlete,  and  thinker,  Hugh  Conyers  had 
hewed  his  upward  way  through  the  press  of  bread 
winners  out  into  the  open,  and,  still  sweet-hearted 
and  sincere,  he  steadily  eyed  without  truckling,  New 
York's  golden  luxury,  and  saw,  with  a  living  sym 
pathy,  the  pathetic  tragedies  of  the  side  eddies  of 
Gotham's  stiller  waters 


IN  THE  SWIM.  35 

From  his  cheery  den,  where  his  sister  Sara  Conyers' 
flowers  of  art  bloomed,  the  writer  looked  out  unmoved 
upon  the  Walpurgis  nights  of  winter  society — the  mad 
battles  of  Wall  Street — and  the  shabby  abandon  of 
New  York  City 's  go-as-you-please  summer  life. 

It  was  only  in  his  faraway  summer  camp,  by  the 
cheery  fire,  under  the  friendly  stars,  or  out  on  the 
dreaming  northern  lakes,  floating  in  his  beloved  birch 
canoe,  that  he  opened  his  proud  heart  to  nature — and 
then,  perchance,  murmured  in  his  sleep — a  name 
which  had  haunted  his  slumbers  long. 

"So!  It's  all  over  between  them!"  mused  Hugh,  as 
he  was  swallowed  up  in  a  lair  of  clanking  presses  and 
toiling  penmen.  "Mr.  Fred  Hathorn  has  arrived. 
God  help  his  wife  to  be!  The  Belgian  granite 
paving  block  is  as  tender  as  that  golden  youth's 
heart." 

He  well  knew  that  the  artful  protege  had  only  used 
the  generous  woman 's  volunteered  bounty  of  the  past 
— "as  means  to  an  end." 

' '  Elaine  has  simply  coined  her  golden  heart  for  that 
smart  cad!"  he  sighed,  as  he  grasped  a  blunted  spear 
of  a  pencil  to  dash  off  an  editorial  upon  "German 
Influence  in  the  South  Seas.  " 

In  her  guarded  downtown  office,  Mrs.  Elaine  Wil- 
loughby  resolutely  put  aside  the  one  subject  now 
nearest  her  heart,  to  summon,  by  signal,  the  fortunate 
man  who  was  fast  slipping  out  of  her  life. 

The  startled  Queen  of  the  Street  gave  but  ten 
minutes'  time  to  the  consideration  of  the  sudden 
change  in  the  affairs  of  a  giant  syndicate  which  used 
two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  in  swaying  the  world 
of  commercial  slaves  at  its  feet. 

A  warning  word  from  Hiram  Endicott's   nephew 


36  IN  THE  SWIM. 

(his  sole  confidant)  told  her  that  her  lawyer-trustee 
had  just  been  summoned,  privately,  to  meet  the 
inscrutable  Chief  of  the  Syndicate. 

With  keen  acumen,  she  reviewed  the  hostile  probing 
of  a  mighty  Senate,  into  the  Sealed  Book  of  the  great 
Trust's  affairs. 

From  her  own  safe,  she  then  extracted  a  memo 
randum  book  and  grimly  smiled,  as  she  noted  a  date 
— May  17,  1884. 

She  quickly  read  over  two  cipher  letters,  dated 
"Arlington  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C. , "  which  had  been 
silently  handed  her  by  Endicott's  only  relative,  and 
murmured,  "Can  it  be  that  the  Standard  Oil  people 
are  going  to  quietly  buy  in  and  wager  their  vast  for 
tunes  on  the  double  event? 

"Hiram  will  know — and — what  he  knows  we  will 
keep  to  ourselves ! ' ' 

A  sense  of  absolute  safety  possessed  her  when  she 
reflected  that  the  sole  depositary  of  her  life  secrets — 
the  one  man  au  courant  with  her  giant  speculations 
was  a  childless  widower  and  had  passed  the  age  when 
passions'  fires  glow — and  was,  moreover,  rich  beyond 
all  need  of  future  acquisition. 

Pride  kept  Hiram  Endicott  still  in  the  ranks  of  his 
profession,  while  the  acquired  taste  of  money-making 
filled  up  the  long  days  darkened  by  the  loss  of  wife 
and  daughter. 

When  Hathorn,  replying  to  her  summons  with  an 
anxious  brow,  entered  the  room  where  the  beautiful 
architect  of  his  fortunes  awaited  him,  he  found  a 
strange  serenity  brooding  upon  her  face. 

With  a  brief  greeting,  he  plunged  in  media  res.  His 
report  was  quickly  made. 

The  unmoved  listener  quietly  remarked,  '  'Hold  my 


IN  THE  SWIM.  37 

account  out  of  all  future  deals  in  Sugar.  Do  nothing 
whatever.  I  may  go  away  for  a  few  weeks.  I  do 
not  care  for  this  little  flurry.  I  will  stand  out — and 
— the  Judge  will  keep  that  line  safe.  " 

The  quiet  decision  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  orders 
gave  the  quietus  to  the  young  man's  eager  plans  for  a 
great  coup. 

Watching  her  craftily  from  the  corners  of  his  eyes, 
he  lightly  turned  to  the  proposed  visit  of  that  inter 
esting  Montana  capitalist,  Harold  Vreeland. 

"Bring  him  to  see  me,  by  all  means!"  the  Lady  of 
Lakemere  cordially  said.  "He  seems  to  have  caught 
a  bit  of  the  breeziness  of  the  pines.  " 

And  then,  when  Hiram  Endicott  briskly  entered, 
Mr.  Frederick  Hathorn  fled  away  to  the  renewed 
struggles  of  the  Exchange. 

The  quondam  "only  broker"  was,  however,  not 
deceived.  He  raced  on  through  the  excited  street  to 
cover  the  firm's  large  line  of  the  rapidly  advancing 
stock,  and  reasoned  quickly  as  he  went. 

In  his  heart  there  was  the  conviction  of  a  coming 
change  in  the  generous  heart  which  had  been  so  long 
open  to  him. 

"  Elaine  is  a  deep  one, ' '  he  wrathf ully  mused.  ' '  She 
is  either  flying  too  high  for  me  to  follow  in  this — or 
else,  she  is  'moving  in  a  mysterious  way  her  wonders 
to  perform.  "' 

He  knew  her  nature  too  well  to  question  her  explicit 
orders. 

The  nerve  of  a  duelist,  the  honor  of  a  caballero,  the 
courage  of  a  plumed  knight — all  these  were  her 
attributes,  and  he  was  not  mad  enough  to  doubt  that 
she  knew  her  own  mind. 

The  "moaning  of  the  sea  of  change"  oppressed  him. 


38  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"She  has  got  out  beyond  me, "he  grumbled,  and 
then,  with  all  the  experience  born  of  his  social  life 
"above  board"  and  "under  the  rose,"  he  failed  to 
remember  any  case  wherein  a  loving  woman  had  gone 
madly  wild  in  approval  of  a  man's  devotion  to  another 
daughter  of  Eve. 

"I  was  a  fool  to  take  Alida  up  there  to  Lakemere, 
and  fret  my  best  customer  with  the  'billing  and  cooing' 
act!  It  was  a  bad  play — and — yet,  the  break  had  to 
come ! ' ' 

He  swore  a  deep  oath  that  he  would,  when  married, 
hold  Alida  VanSittart  well  in  hand,  and  still  cling  to 
the  desirable  business  of  the  woman  who  had  made 
his  fortune. 

"Here's  Vreeland, "  he  hopefully  planned.  "Just 
the  fellow !  Ardent,  young,  an  interesting  devil,  and, 
rich.  He  will  help  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  her  lonely 
days — and,  his  game  can  never  cross  my  own. 

"He's  a  mighty  presentable  fellow,  too,  and  I  can 
perhaps  strengthen  my  hold  on  her  through  him. ' ' 

A  cautionary  resolve  to  keep  the  handsome  Western 
traveler  away  from  Miss  Alida  VanSittart  was  born  of 
the  slight  uneasiness  caused  by  the  gilded  Potter's 
attentions  to  the  tall  young  nymph  of  the  court  of 
Croesus.  "She  is  my  lsine  qua!1  "  he  smiled.  "No 
fooling  around  there!" 

It  was  four  o'clock  before  the  busy  Hathorn  could 
get  the  nose  of  his  financial  bark  steered  safely  over 
the  saccharine  breakers  of  the  Sugar  market. 

And,  still,  a  growing  excitement  filled  the  aspiring 
young  banker's  veins. 

While    he    had    struggled    on    the    floor    of    the 
Exchange,  he  was  suddenly  smitten  with  a  fear  that 
his  patroness  had  abruptly  abandoned  him. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  39 

He  sent  a  confidential  lad  over  to  watch  Judge  Endi- 
cott's  office,  and  he  was  soon  rewarded  with  the 
reliable  news  that  the  serene  goddess  of  Pactolus  had 
calmly  driven  away  after  an  hour's  stay  at  her 
trustee's  office. 

"What  is  she  up  to?"  he  fretted.  "I'll  find  out  if 
she  really  goes  home !"  he  then  decided,  with  a  growing 
uneasiness,  as  he  marked  the  surging  tide  of  Sugar 
speculation. 

He  was  fortunate  enough  to  attract  the  personal 
attention  of  Harold  Vreeland,  of  Montana,  for  that 
new  member  of  ihejeunesse  doree  was  held  socially  in 
eclipse,  until  Bell's  minions  should  purvey  the  "robes 
of  price"  suited  to  the  swelling  port  assumed  by  the 
bold  social  gambler. 

The  hearty  assent  of  the  fancied  dvipe  to  the  even 
ing  call,  enabled  Hathorn  to  call  his  patroness  by  the 
private  wire  at  the  Circassia. 

"By  Jove !  She  is  lucky  to  be  out  of  this  flurry !"  he 
decided,  when  Mrs.  Willoughby's  voice  closed  the 
telephonic  interview  without  even  a  passing  reference 
to  "the  market."  "She  did  go  home  after  all!" 

And,  so  lulled  to  security,  he  remembered  all  the 
vastness  of  her  varied  moneyed  interests.  He  knew 
only  the  magnitude  of  her  transactions  in  the  past. 

The  hidden  reasons  of  her  Napoleonic  moves  he  had 
never  penetrated,  and  he  had  vainly  shadowed  her 
visits  to  Washington  and  sifted  the  guests  at  her  sum 
mer  palace.  But  now,  his  future  control  was  endan 
gered. 

The  crowd  of  guests,  would-be  suitors,  financial  and 
political  friends  hovering  around  her,  embraced 
judges,  generals,  senators,  governors,  national  states 
men,  and  party  leaders. 


40  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Every  social  door  was  open  to  the  mistress  of  Lake- 
mere — and  her  smile,  like  the  sunshine,  beamed 
impartially  upon  all.  So,  the  veiled  espionage  of  the 
past  had  been  fruitless. 

The  paid  revelations  of  Justine  had  so  far  only 
rewarded  him  with  the  recurring  details  of  the  suing 
of  many  sighing  gallants  kneeling  before  her  guarded 
golden  shrine. 

In  the  first  months  of  the  cementing  of  their  past 
friendship,  he  had  even  dared  to  dream  of  a  personal 
conquest,  but  the  high-minded  frankness  of  her  kind 
ness  had  soon  killed  that  youthful  conceit. 

And  now,  to-day,  he  felt  that  the  golden  chain  had 
snapped  beyond  him,  and  that  he  really  had  never 
fathomed  the  inner  nature  of  the  queenly  woman. 

But  one  unreserved  intimacy  characterized  her 
guarded  life.  The  union  of  interest  between  herself 
and  Hiram  Endicott. 

Hard-hearted  and  mean-spirited.  Hathorn  clung  for 
a  year  to  the  idea  that  the  wealthy  lawyer  was  per 
haps  the  Numa  Pompilius  of  this  blooming  woman 
whose  roses  of  life  were  yet  fragrant  with  summer's 
incense. 

But  the  vastness  of  her  transactions,  and  even  the 
results  of  his  mean  spying,  left  him,  at  last,  absolutely 
persuaded  that  they  were  not  tied  by  any  personal 
bond. 

The  "man  who  had  arrived"  lacked  the  delicacy  of 
soul  to  know  that  the  prize  might  have  been  his,  had 
he  been  true  to  the  ideal  which  Elaine  Willoughby 
had  formed  of  him.  For,  he  had  never  been  frank- 
hearted  enough  to  risk  her  refusal. 

He  had  never  forgotten  the  night,  years  ago,  when 
he  had  boldly  avowed  to  her  that  he  had  not  a  real 


IN  THE  SWIM.  41 

friend  in  the  world.  It  had  been  with  only  a  coarse 
joy  in  his  coming  good  fortune ,  that  he  had  listened 
to  her  answer,  "You  must  come  to  me  again." 

That  night,  five  years  before,  Elaine  Willoughby 
had  whispered  to  her  own  blushing  face  in  her 
mirror,  "I  can  make  a  social  power  of  him.  I  can 
build  up  his  fortunes.  Men  shall  know  and  honor 
him — and  then — " 

She  had  never  completed  that  sentence,  framing  a 
wish  that  she  dared  not  name  in  words. 

But  he  had  at  last  coldly  passed  her  by,  and  knelt 
before  the  feet  of  a  mere  girl,  who  valued  him  only 
for  what  the  silent  benefactress  had  made  him.  It 
was  a  cruel  stroke. 

"She  is  different  from  all  the  other  women  I  have 
ever  met!"  ruefully  sighed  Hathorn,  who  now  saw 
that  the  great  Sugar  intrigues  were  sealed  from  his 
future  ken.  He  had  watched  the  artful  juggling  of 
government  bonds  finally  make  a  daring  and  aspiring 
New  York  banker  rise  to  be  a  rival  of  the  Rothschilds. 
He  knew,  by  gossipy  chatter,  of  the  American  Sugar 
Company's  alleged  veiled  participation  in  the  great 
New  York  campaign  of  1892. 

He  saw  the  Sugar  Trust  moving  on  to  a  reported 
influence  in  national  affairs,  and,  keenly  watching 
every  lucky  stroke  of  the  Queen  of  the  Street,  he  was 
persuaded  that  the  finest  threads  of  the  vast  intrigue 
in  some  hidden  way  ran  through  her  slender  jeweled 
hands.  He  saw  his  fault  too  late. 

"I  might  have  known  all — if  I  had  married  her!"  he 
decided,  as  he  hid  his  disturbed  countenance  in  a 
coupe"  on  his  way  uptown. 

He  was  conscious  of  that   slight   chill   of   change 


42  IN  THE  SWIM. 

which  is  an  unerring  indication  of  a  woman's  secret 
resolve. 

But  a  last  brilliant  thought  came  to  the  puzzled 
trickster.  It  seemed  a  golden  inspiration. 

"Here  is  Vreeland,  heart-free  and  foot-loose.  I 
can  exploit  him  and  get  him  into  the  best  houses  in 
a  month.  He  is  not  a  marrying  man. 

"If  I  can  work  him  into  our  stock  business,  I  may 
regain  her — through  him — and  I'll  keep  Alida  out  of 
her  sight.  She  may  fancy  him.  I'll  post  Vreeland, 
and,  perhaps,  he  may  find  the  key  to  her  hold  on  the 
Sugar  deals. 

"With  Justine  in  my  pay,  and  Vreeland  well  coached, 
I  may  yet  fathom  the  inner  arcanum  of  the  great  im 
pending  deal. 

"A  union  of  the  Sugar  Trust  and  the  Standard  Oil 
interests  would  make  the  heaviest  financial  battery  of 
modern  times — and — by  Jove — they  would  be  able  to 
swing  Uncle  Sam's  policy  at  will.  Yes!  I  will  push 
Vreeland  to  the  front. ' ' 

With  a  hopeful  glance  at  a  sober  banking  structure, 
not  far  from  the  corner  of  Wall  and  Broad,  the  day- 
dreamer  murmured,  "I  might  even  rise  like  him,"  as 
he  caught  sight  of  a  gray-mustached  man,  now  sup 
posed  to  be  comfortably  staggering  along  under  the 
weight  of  a  hundred  brilliantly  won  millions. 

"I  have  Alida  VanSittart's  money— as  an  anchor. 
I  will  use  this  Vreeland  as  my  tool.  He's  an  open- 
hearted  fellow. ' ' 

Hiram  Endicott.  at  the  corner,  watched  the  young 
banker  dash  by.  The  old  lawyer's  thin  form  was  still 
erect  at  sixty-five.  His  stern  cameo  face,  and  steady 
frosty  eye,  comported  with  his  silken  white  hair. 

He  strode  on,  with  the  composed  manner  of  an  old 


IN  THE  SWIM.  43 

French  marquis.  His  heart  was  wrung  with  the 
passionate  appeal  of  Elaine  Willoughby  to  reopen  an 
unavailing  search  of  years.  For  she  bore,  in  silence, 
a  secret  burden. 

The  morning  had  been  given  to  the  calm  discussion 
of  new  means  to  unlock  a  mystery  of  the  past,  "to 
phick  out  a  rooted  sorrow. ' ' 

Endicott's  nephew  was  now  in  sole  charge  of  the 
giant  battle  with  loaded  dice,  in  the  ring  of  Sugar 
speculation.  The  lawyer  alone  knew  that  Hathorn's 
sceptre  had  departed  from  him.  He  cursed  the 
retreating  gallant. 

"Can  it  be  that  the  marriage  of  this  cold-hearted 
young  trickster  has  opened  her  eyes  to  the  folly  of 
educating  a  husband,  in  posse? 

"Or-— is  it  the  shadow  of  the  old  sorrow,  Banquo-like, 
returning?  God  bless  her.  I  fear  it  is  a  hopeless 
quest." 

And  yet,  with  all  the  fond  dissimulation  of  Eve's 
family,  Elaine  Willoughby  was  serenely  radiant  that 
night  as  the  cautious  Hathorn  led  the  "open-hearted 
fellow"  into  the  splendors  of  the  Circassia.  "This 
plan  of  mine  will  work,"  mused  Hathorn,  who  did 
not  see  the  gleam  of  triumph  in  Vreeland  's  eyes  when 
the  hostess  asked  him  to  visit  her  dreamy  domain  of 
Lakemere. 


44  IN  THE  SWIM. 


CHAPTER  III. 
A  FRANK  DISCLOSURE. 

Hathorn  returned,  thoroughly  hoodwinked,  from 
the  introductory  evening  spent  at  the  Circassia.  It 
had  seemed  strange  to  him  that  a  leading  general  of 
the  regular  army,  and  a  dapper  French  author,  then 
in  the  brief  blaze  of  his  "lionship, "  with  a  grave 
senator  and  a  returned  Polar  explorer  should  have 
been  called  to  meet  together  at  the  dinner  table. 
"It's  Elaine's  incomparable  way  of  making  a  delight 
ful  olla  podrida  of  the  social  menu, ' '  he  mused,  as  he 
watched  the  hostess  narrowly.  "Caviare  to  the 
General!" 

When  he  had  found  time  to  whisper  a  confidential 
word  as  to  the  enormous  Sugar  sales  of  the  day,  the  Lady 
of  Lakemere  only  laughed  merrily.  ' '  I  have  now  a  soul 
above  Sugar!  I  shall  put  my  'Trust'  elsewhere!" 
And  then,  in  her  serious  way,  she  slowly  said:  "Wait 
here  with  your  Western  friend,  till  all  these  other  peo 
ple  go!"  And  he,  with  a  budding  hope,  eagerly 
awaited  her  pleasure  as  of  old. 

Elaine's  unruffled  brow  bore  no  business  shades 
when  she  drew  Hathorn  aside  for  a  moment  into  her 
boudoir,  leaving  the  luxury-loving  Vreeland  wander 
ing  around  spell-bound  in  a  frank  admiration  of  the 
queen's  jewel-box.  For  so,  the  spacious  apartment 
was  termed  in  the  circle  of  "le  Petit  Trianon.  " 

"This  is  only  my  catch-all,  Mr.  Vreeland,"  cried 
Elaine,  as  she  swept  past  him.  "You must  see  Lake- 
mere.  There  you  can  linger — and — admire.  " 


IN  THE  SWIM.  45 

Harold  Vreeland's  silent  oath  of  obedience  followed 
the  woman,  who  fixed  her  sweetly  serious  eyes  on  the 
agitated  Hathorn,  in  the  well -remembered  room  where 
their  hearts  had  so  often  throbbed  with  quickened 
beats.  "Was  it  to  be  a  rapprochement  ?" 

"It  is  only  fair  to  tell  you,  Fred, ' '  she  simply  said, 
"that  I  shall  have  to  avoid  all  excitements  this  sum 
mer.  Doctor  Hugo  Alberg  is  not  at  all  satisfied  with 
my  heart  action.  And,  a  tranquil  rest  at  Lakemere  is 
his  sole  prescription.  Now,  as  I  shall  probably  stay 
there  till  October  first,  I  shall  leave  my  speculative 
stock  account  to  be  handled  by  Judge  Endicott,  who 
has  my  sole  power  of  attorney. ' ' 

The  mystified  broker  stood  aghast  at  losing  his  pet 
account  for  such  a  long  period.  Was  she  leaving  the 
Street  forever?  He  faltered,  "And  this  means — " 

"That  you  must  hasten  your  marriage.  There  are 
other  things  in  life  beside  making  money.  Of 
course,  I  have  confided  only  in  you.  Potter  can  not 
trust  himself — and  so,  I  can  not  trust  him  with  the 
secrets  of  any  of  my  financial  movements.  You  are 
the  one  young  Napoleon  of  your  firm. 

"So,  if  you  really  wish  to  go  abroad,  then  make 
Alida  a  June  bride.  I  shall  avoid  touching  the  Street 
till  late  in  October — and  then,  when  your  European 
tour  is  over,  I  shall  be  able  to  take  up  the  game  of 
pitch  and  toss  again. ' ' 

He  was  conscious  that  she  was  keenly  watching 
him.  "Of  course,"  he  slowly  said,  "it  gives  me  all 
the  time  I  want.  I  was  really  concerned  about  your 
interests.  It  is  a  good  plan,  and  I  may  be  able  to  get 
Vreeland  to  play  amateur  banker  in  my  place  for  a 
few  months.  Potter  and  he  seem  to  fancy  each 
other.  I'll  talk  to  Alida.  This  will  probably  suit  her 


46  IN  THE  SWIM. 

wishes."      It  all  looked    fair    enough,   and    yet — his 
bosom  was  filled  with  a  vague  alarm. 

"I  have  already  selected  my  present,  Fred,"  merrily 
said  the  Queen  of  the  Street.  "Take  time  by  the  fore 
lock,  and  give  up  these  lovely  summer  months  to  young 
love."  The  broker's  eyes  were  gleaming  as  he  said, 
"Can  it  be  possible  that  you  have  gone  out  of  Sugar 
on  the  eve  of  a  ten  per  cent  surplus  dividend?  I 
heard  that  inside  rumor  to-day.  You  know  how  dear 
to  me  all  your  interests  are. " 

He  now  felt  that  there  was  that  behind  the  arras 
which  was  skillfully  veiled  from  him.  For  her  eyes 
were  shining  coldly  over  the  smiling  lips. 

The  dark-eyed  woman  simply  said,  "Tempt  me 
not.  I  have  promised  Doctor  Alberg  to  refrain. 

"So,  go  and  make  yourself  Benedick,  the  married 
man.  It  is  the  time  of  roses — you  must  pluck  them 
as  you  pass.  Come  to  me — when  you  have  settled 
this  matter.  I  will  give  you  a  social  send-off  at 
Lakemere  worthy  of  'the  high  contracting  parties.' ' 

Her  voice  was  thrilling  him  now  as  of  old,  and  yet, 
with  all  her  kindness,  he  instinctively  felt  that  some 
thing  was  going  out  of  his  life  forever. 

"It  will  be  always  the  same  between  us,  Elaine," 
the  young  Napoleon  murmured.  She  had  risen  and 
turned  toward  the  door. 

"Did  you  ever  know  me  to  change?"  she  softly  said, 
as  she  glided  out  to  begin  a  cordial  t$te-a-tete  with 
Vreeland.  There  was  no  further  intimate  exchange 
of  thoughts  possible  between  the  secretly  estranged 
couple,  and,  now  keenly  on  guard,  in  a  disturbed 
state  of  mind,  Mr.  Frederick  Hathorn  lingered  in 
converse  late  that  night  at  the  Old  York  Club,  with 
his  quondam  friend. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  47 

Harold  Vreeland's  conduct  at  his  debut  had  been 
perfectly  adapted  to  Elaine  Willoughby's  changeful 
mood.  The  deep  courtesy  of  a  perfect  self-effacement, 
and  his  coldly-designed  waiting  policy  soothed  her 
strangely  restless  heart. 

The  woman  who  once  could  have  married  Hathorn 
was  now  feverishly  eager  to  see  him  haled  to  the  bar 
of  matrimony. 

"Once  that  he  is  range- — I  am  then  sure  of  myself 
again,"  she  murmured,  as  she  saw  her  perfectly  com 
posed  face  for  the  last  time  that  night  in  the  silver- 
framed  mirror.  And  yet,  she  knew  that  it  was  but  a 
social  mask.  There  was  an  anticipatory  revenge,  how 
ever,  in  the  fact  that  Hiram  Endicott  had  reported 
the  private  pooling  of  her  enormous  Sugar  holdings 
with  those  of  the  great  chief  of  the  vast  Syndicate. 

The  ten  per  cent  bonus  dividend,  long  artfully  held 
back,  was  her  assured  profit  now,  and  Hugh  Conyer's 
watchful  loyalty  had  made  "assurance  doubly  sure.  " 

Endicott  had  already  sent  out  a  dozen  agents  to  take 
up  once  more  the  secret  quest  which  had  so  often 
failed  them — and  these  "legal  affairs"  naturally  gave 
him  the  excuse  for  a  tri-weekly  visit  to  Lakemere. 

"So,  Mr.  Frederick  Hathorn,  as  you  have  locked 
the  door  of  my  heart  on  the  outside,  you  may  now 
throw  away  the  useless  key!"  she  mused  "I  will 
find  my  best  defense  against  any  weakness  in  the 
keen-witted  young  wife  who  will  surely  show  you 
yet  the  thorns  on  the  rosebud.  " 

Dreams  of  the  past  mingled  with  the  shapes  of  the 
present,  as  the  lady  of  Lakemere  laid  her  shapely 
head  to  rest. 

"He  has  irreproachable  manners,  at  least,"  was  her 
last  thought,  as  the  unconscious  psychology  of 

4 


48  IN  THE  SWIM. 

mighty  Nature  brought  the  graceful  Vreeland  back 
to  her  mind.  "I  wonder  if  he  is  at  heart  like — the 
other?" 

And  so,  all  ignorant  of  the  power  of  this  self- 
confessed  womanly  yearning  toward  the  handsome 
young  stranger,  Elaine  Willoughby  fell  asleep,  to 
dream  of  the  crafty  man  who  had  not  yet  forgotten 
how  her  liquid  eyes  had  dropped  under  his  ardent  gaze. 

The  laws  of  nature  are  the  only  inviolable  code  of 
life,  and  blindly  the  lady  of  Lakemere  had  passed  on, 
all  unwittingly,  toward  a  turning  point  in  her  lonely 
life.  Her  barrier  of  pride  only  fenced  out  the  ungrate 
ful  Hathorn,  condemned  for  ingratitude. 

Vreeland,  following  carefully  upon  Fred  Hathorn 's 
curvilinear  conversational  path,  easily  divined  the 
uncertainty  of  the  greedy  young  broker's  mind. 

"He  wants  Miss  Millions,  and  yet,  he  would  not 
lose  his  fairy  godmother,"  thought  the  crafty  adven 
turer.  "I  shall  go  slow  and  let  them  make  the  game. 

'  'But  wait  till  I  am  the  guiding  spirit  of  Lakemere. 
She  shall  come  forward  inch  by  inch,  and  he  shall 
unfold  to  me  every  weak  spot  in  his  armor. " 

They  had  finished  a  grilled  bone  and  a  "bottle" 
before  Hathorn  foxily  sought  to  draw  out  his  friend 
as  to  the  details  of  the  Montana  bonanza.  The  plan 
of  an  amateur  four-months'  Wall  Street  experience  was 
quietly  and  deftly  brought  in. 

"You  see,  Hod,"  frankly  said  Hathorn,  "Jimmy  Pot 
ter  drinks  occasionally.  He  has  that  pretty  devil,  Dickie 
Doubleday,  on  the  string,  and  he  plays  high.  Now, 
my  lawyer  alone  has  my  Power  of  Attorney.  I  can 
post  our  confidential  man. 

"But,  if  you  would  open  a  special  account  of,  say,  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  why,  there  is  Sugar !  There 


IN  THE  SWIM.  49 

will  soon  be  a  ten  per  cent  bonus  dividend.  You 
could  see  the  Street,  on  the  inside!  I  know  that  you 
would  get  along  with  Potter. 

"You  always  were  a  cool  chap.  What  do  you  say? 
I  shall  marry  Alida  VanSittart,  and  take  the  run  over 
the  water  while  I  can.  I  don't  care,  however,  to  lose 
Mrs.  Willoughby.  She  is  the  heaviest  woman  oper 
ator  in  America.  Her  account  is  a  young  fortune  to 
us.  Think  this  over. " 

The  fine  "poker  nerve"  of  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  was 
now  manifest  in'  his  quick  perception  of  Hathorn's 
trembling  fingers.  The  smoke  curled  lazily  from 
Vreeland's  Henry  Clay  as  he  said:  "I  will  open  my 
heart  to  you,  Fred.  All  my  money  is  already  well  in 
vested.  And  I  do  not  care  to  move  a  small  block  of 
my  funds.  Besides — 

"I  have  been  cut  off  from  all  phases  of  womanhood 
save  the  'Calamity  Jane'  type,  or  "some  one's  runaway 
wife,  for  long  years.  I  shall  hurry  slowly.  You 
know  the  Arabic  proverb:  'Hurry  is  the  devil's.' 
Now,  by  October  the  first,  I  will  have  had  my  summer 
fling.  I  will  perhaps  join  you  then,  if  you  can  make 
the  showing  that  I  would  like.  But,  just  now,  I  am 
going  in  for  the  'roses  and  raptures. '  ' ' 

"You  are  not  a  marrying  man,  Hod?"  cried  Hat- 
horn,  in  a  sudden  alarm. 

"Heavens,  no! "laughed  the  Western  man.  "Omar 
Khayam's  vision  of  the  'Flower  Garden'  pales  before 
the  ''embarras  de  richesse'  of  the  N^vv  York  'Beauty 
Show.'  I  am  as  yet  a  free  lance,  and  also,  an  old 
campaigner.  I  will  solemnly  promise  not  to  marry  till 
I  see  you  again.  But  I'll  stand  up  with  you  and  see 
you  spliced. ' ' 

The  compact  was  sealed  over  'tother  bottle,  and 
4 


SO  IN  THE  SWIM. 

then  Hathorn departed  in  high  hopes.  "He  will  drift 
easily  into  our  circle, ' '  mused  the  sly  broker,  who, 
watching  only  his  own  loosening  hold  on  Elaine 
Willoughby,  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  Vreeland 
really  controlled  a  vast  fortune. 

His  friend  had  "called  the  turn"  correctly. 

"Bluff  goes,  it  seems,  even  in  cold-hearted  New 
York,"  gaily  concluded  Vreeland,  as  he  sauntered 
back  alone  to  the  Waldorf.  "This  strangely  hastened 
wedding  will  bring  me  at  once  into  the  best  circles. 
Mr.  Fred  Hathorn 's  groomsman  is  a  social  somebody. 
The  Lakemere  divinity  will  soon  do  the  rest,  and  by 
the  time  you  return,  my  sly  friend,  I  will  be  ready 
to  kick  the  ladder  down  on  your  side."  He  roared 
with  a  secret  glee  over  his  own  "inability  to  disturb 
his  invested  funds." 

With  a  vulpine  watchfulness,  he  noted  all  Mr. 
Jimmy  Potter's  weak  points.  "I  must  get  up  my 
poker  practice,"  he  smilingly  said,  as  he  laid  his 
comely  head  down  to  rest. 

"  'Mr.  Potter  of  New  York*  shall  reinforce  that 
slender  seven  thousand  dollars,  or  else  I'm  a  duffer. 
He  will  never  squeal,  at  least,  not  to  his  partner. 
And  so  I'll  go  in  as  a  wedge  between  this  ass  and  this 
fine  woman  who  has  unconsciously  loved  him.  Yes, 
it's  a  good  opening  for  a  young  man !  A  mean  and 
easy  betrayal!" 

The  preoccupations  of  the  splendid  wedding  of  Miss 
Alida  VanSittart  gave  Vreeland,  now  "the  observed 
of  all  observers, ' '  an  ample  opportunity  to  begin  that 
"silent  slavery"  of  a  respectful  devotion  upon  which 
he  had  decided  as  his  safest  role  at  Lakemere. 

His  days  were  pleasantly  passed  in  gaining  a  grow 
ing  intimacy  with  the  club  circles  to  which  two 


IN  THE  SWIM.  51 

powerful  influences  had  now  gained  him  an  easy 
access.  For,  Elaine  Willoughby  was  drifting  under  the 
charm  of  his  apparent  self-surrender  to  her  generous 
leadership — another  handsome  protege. 

His  rising  social  star  was  fixed  in  its  orbit  by  the 
honors  of  groomsman,  and  in  the  visites  de  ctremonie, 
the  rehearsals,  and  all  the  petty  elegancies  of  the 
"great  social  event,"  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  showed  a 
perfectly  good  form.  There  was  a  gentle  gravity  in 
his  Waldorf  life  which  impressed  even  the  flaneurs  of 
that  gilded  hostlery.  "There,  sir,"  remarked  an  old 
habitue,  "is  a  man  who  holds  himself  at  his  proper 
value." 

Measured  and  fastidious  in  all  his  ways,  Mr.  Vree 
land  neglected  no  trifling  detail,  and  he  calmly  went 
onward  and  upward.  He  well  knew  that,  for  some  as 
yet  hidden  reason,  the  bridegroom  was  assiduously 
forcing  his  old  chum  forward  into  the  glittering  ring 
of  America's  Vanity  Fair.  And  it  exactly  suited  his 
own  quiet  game. 

He  fully  appreciated  the  extensive  influence  of  the 
Lady  of  Lakemere,  for  her  friends,  moved  on  deftly  by 
her,  now  came  forward  to  open  the  golden  gates  for 
him  on  every  side. 

Even  before  the  wedding,  Vreeland  had  made  him 
self  familiar  with  all  the  glories  of  Lakemere.  Side 
by  side  with  its  beautiful  mistress,  he  had  threaded 
its  leafy  alleys,  climbed  its  sculptured  heights  "when 
jocund  morn  sat  on  the  misty  mountain  tops,"  and 
gloated  secretly  upon  the  splendid  treasures  of  that 
perfect  establishment.  "This  shall  be  mine  yet,"  he 
swore  in  his  delighted  heart. 

Out  upon  the  moonlit  lake,  speeding  along  in  a  fairy 
launch,  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  followed  up  his  policy 


52  IN  THE  SWIM. 

of  self-abnegation.  "Do  you  not  know  that  I  can 
trace  your  noble  kindness  everywhere?"  he  murmured. 

' '  I  am  all  alone  in  the  world.  Your  veiled  influence 
is  making  cold-hearted  New  York  smile  as  a  blossom 
ing  paradise  for  me.  No ;  do  not  deny  it.  You  are 
the  very  loveliest  Queen  of  Friendship."  The  beauti 
ful  brown  eyes  dropped  before  his  eager  gaze.  She 
was  a  woman  still. 

Elaine  Willoughby  marked  him  as  he  went  away 
with  a  growing  interest.  "Graceful,  grateful,  manly, 
and  sincere!"  was  her  verdict,  easily  reached,  but  one, 
however,  not  so  enthusiastically  adopted  by  either 
Judge  Hiram  Endicott  or  the  Conyers  couple,  whom 
the  Lady  of  Lakemere  had  captured  for  a  visit  before 
sending  them  away  to  the  delightful  summer  exile  of 
her  Adirondack  cottage. 

"I  don't  know  what  that  fellow  is  after,  Hugh?" 
growled  the  old  Judge  one  day,  as  they  were  return 
ing  to  town  together;  "but,  he  looks  to  me  like  a 
fellow  who  would  finally  get  it. " 

Conyers  uneasily  said:  "He  is  the  'head  pan 
jandrum'  of  this  Hathorn  wedding — old  college  chum 
and  all  that." 

"Arcades  ambo!"  shortly  said  the  silver-haired 
lawyer.  "Mrs.  Willoughby  has  a  foolish  fondness  for 
picking  up  these  Admirable  Crichtons,  and  then  forc 
ing  them  along  the  road  to  fortune.  It  is  only  a 
generous  woman's  weakness,  a  sort  of  self -flattery. " 

"Vreeland  is  immensely  rich — a  man  of  leisure. 
Has  jumped  into  one  or  two  of  the  best  clubs  by 
mysterious  backing,  and  seems  to  be  all  right," 
slowly  answered  Hugh,  mentally  contrasting  his  own 
plain  tweeds  with  Vreeland's  raiment  of  great  price. 

"I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it,"  sharply  said  Endicott. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  53 

"Oblige  me  and  just  keep  an  eye  on  him — about  her, 
I  mean,"  and  the  journalist  was  fain  to  give  the 
required  promise. 

Their  hands  met  in  a  silent  pledge  of  loyalty  to  the 
lonely-hearted  mistress  of  Lakemere. 

The  elder  man  alone  knew  the  silent  sorrows  of 
her  anxious  soul.  He  alone  knew  of  the  quest  of 
long  years — a  labor  of  love,  so  far  fruitless. 

The  younger  guarded  his  own  heart  secret  in  his 
honest  breast,  and  yet,  while  hiding  it  from  the  world, 
he  wondered  why  some  man  worthy  of  her  royal 
nature  had  not  taken  her  to  wife. 

As  the  train  swept  along,  watching  a  "bright, 
particular  star"  mirrored  in  the  flowing  Hudson, 
Conyers  sighed,  "God  bless  her!  She's  as  far  above 
me  as  that  star,  and  yet,  she  makes  my  life  bright. ' ' 

It  was  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  who  later  carried  off  all 
the  honors  of  the  sumptuous  wedding  as  a  proper 
"man-at-arms"  in  Cupid's  army.  He  was  secretly 
approved  by  even  the  raffinte  bridesmaids.  He  was 
also  the  diplomatic  messenger  who  delivered  to  Mrs. 
Alida  Hathorn  that  superb  diamond  necklace  which 
was  Elaine  Willoiighby's  bridal  offering.  Hathorn 
remembered  after  the  ceremony  how  strangely  stately 
were  his  lovely  patroness'  congratulations  to  the 
radiant  bride. 

Vreeland's  speech  at  the  Lakemere  dinner  was 
classic  in  its  diction,  and  when  the  festivities  slowly 
crystallized  into  iridescent  memories,  and  the  "happy 
pair"  were  half  over  to  that  "bourne"  from  whence 
many  American  travelers  do  not  return  —  gay, 
glittering  Paris — Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  was  soon 
besieged  with  many  sweetly  insidious  invitations  to 
Lenox,  Bar  Harbor,  Narragansett  Pier,  Newport,  the 


54  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Hudson  colony,  and  many  other  Capuan  bowers  of 
dalliance. 

Larchmont,  Lakewood,  Irvington,  and  other  summer 
mazes  opened  their  hospitable  golden  gates  to  him, 
and  a  swarm  of  biddings  to  polo,  golf,  lawn  tennis,  and 
other  youthful  circles,  were  gladly  offered  by  man 
and  maid.  In  other  words,  Vreeland  was  launched 
"in  the  swim." 

In  the  hurried  moments  of  the  steamer  parting, 
Vreeland  would  only  vouchsafe  a  cool  but  diplomatic 
answer  to  Hathorn's  final  pleadings. 

"I  will  meet  and  answer  you  on  October  ist,  but 
I'll  look  in  on  Potter  a  bit." 

He  did  cordially  agree  to  give  the  bridegroom  a 
friendly  report  of  all  the  doings  at  Lakemere,  and  he 
had  fallen  heir  to  Hathorn's  intimacy  with  Justine — 
that  spirited  French  maid,  whose  many  life  episodes 
had  only  deprived  her  of  a  shadowy  candidacy  for  the 
honors  of  "la  Rostire."  "I  trust  to  you  to  look  after 
my  interests,  Hod,  in  a  general  way,"  eagerly  said  the 
bridegroom. 

"So  I  will,"  heartily  replied  the  young  Lochinvar 
a  la  mode,  and  then  he  mentally  added:  "After  my 
own  are  safe."  And,  so  bride  and  groom  sailed  away 
on  the  ocean  of  a  newer  life. 

He  so  far  kept  his  promise,  mindful  of  the  gap 
already  made  by  a  dash  into  high  life  in  his  seven 
thousand  dollars,  as  to  closely  cement  an  intimacy 
with  Potter,  begun  over  the  "painted  beauties." 

Mrs.  Hathorn's  bridal  wreath  had  hardly  withered 
before  the  astute  Vreeland,  a  good  listener,  had 
become  the  chief  adviser  of  Potter  in  his  doubtful 
warfare  with  that  bright-eyed  Cossack  of  Love,  Miss 
Dickie  Doubleday. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  55 

"Mr.  Jimmy"  now  seriously  contemplated  a  two 
years'  visit  to  Europe  on  the  return  of  the  success 
fully  married  Hathorn.  "The  little  rift  within  the 
lute' '  was  widening.  Miss  Doubleday  was  as  exacting 
as  she  was  charming,  and  even  "rosy  fetters  of 
ethereal  lightness' '  were  galling  to  the  spoiled  child  of 
fortune.  Potter  had  secretly  purchased  a  Gazetteer 
and  had  made  some  furtive  studies  as  to  Askabad, 
Astrachan,  Khiva,  Timbuctoo,  Khartoum,  and 
several  other  places  where  his  golden-haired  tyrant 
could  not  follow  him  without  due  premonition.  He 
contemplated  a  "change  of  base." 

"I  hope  you  will  come  in  with  us,  Vreeland," 
cordially  remarked  Potter.  "Hathorn  tells  me  that 
you  are  well  up  in  stocks  and  as  quick  as  lightning. 
I  wouldn't  mind  helping  you  to  an  interest.  I  must 
escape  this — this — " 

The  puzzled  little  millionaire  paused,  for  the  first 
word  was  a  misfit,  and  he  was  a  good  devil  at  heart. 
He  could  not  abuse  the  tantalizing  Miss  Dickie 
Doubleday. 

With  a  fine  discrimination,  the  rising  social  star  was 
touched  with  one  pang  of  regret  at  the  little  man's 
agony,  now  impaled  on  the  hook  of  Miss  Dickie 
Doubleday's  angle.  He  visited  that  bright-eyed 
young  Ithuriel,  and  soon  effected  a  "  modus  vivendi  " 
which  enabled  Potter  to  cruise  around  on  his  yacht  for 
one  month  of  blessed  and  unhoped  for  peace. 

In  several  sittings  upon  the  "Nixie,"  Mr.  Harold 
Vreeland  relieved  his  grateful  host  of  some  fourteen 
thousand  dollars,  by  the  application  of  the  neat  little 
Western  device  known  as  "the  traveling  aces." 

But,  James  Potter,  grateful  to  the  core,  and  lulled 


56  IN  THE  SWIM. 

by  the  insidious  Pommery,  never  "caught  on,"  and 
cheerfully  "cashed  up"  without  a  murmur. 

From  this  victorious  encounter,  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland 
gaily  returned  to  Lakemere,  after  a  brief  tour  of 
inspection  of  the  seaside  resorts  sacred  to  the  gcntc 
fina.  He  found  everything  "grist  to  his  mill."  The 
gates  were  widely  ajar. 

With  the  patient  assiduity  of  a  well-conceived  pur 
pose,  he  now  began  to  make  the  most  of  this  "one 
summer. ' ' 

He  was  well  aware,  from  the  reports  of  the  com 
placent  Justine,  that  the  Conyers  were  both  out  of  the 
way,  and  his  heart  bounded  with  delight  as  he  f  ealized 
that  Elaine  Willoughby  gracefully  called  him  to  her 
side  on  those  four  days  of  the  week  when  Hiram 
Endicott  was  not  in  commune  with  her,  in  the  splen 
did  gray  stone  mansion  bowered  in  its  nodding  trees. 

He  always  paid  her  the  delicate  compliment  of  an 
implicit  obedience,  and  in  all  the  days  of  absence 
found  the  way  made  smooth  for  him  elsewhere. 

The  circle  at  Lakemere  was  a  large  one,  and  Mr. 
Harold  Vreeland,  "with  an  equal  splendor"  and  a 
touch  "impartially  tender,"  became  the  favorite  ami 
de  maison.  He  failed  not,  however,  to  spread  the 
balm  of  his  cordial  suavity  on  every  side. 

Day  after  day  drifted  happily  by,  the  unspoken  pact 
between  the  new  friends  becoming  a  stronger  bond 
with  every  week,  and  the  watchful  vigilance  of  the 
young  adventurer  was  never  relaxed. 

He  was  now  grounded  on  society's  shores  as  a 
fixture,  and  apparently  serenely  unconscious,  soon 
became  the  vogue  without  effort.  The  useless  accom 
plishments  of  his  college  days  now  all  came  back  to 
vastly  aid  the  agreeable  parvenu. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  57 

He  had  early  mastered  the  secret  of  womanhood — 
the  vague  dislike  possessed  by  all  of  Eve's  charming- 
daughters  for  the  strong-souled  and  unyielding 
superior  man.  For,  be  they  never  so  wary,  "trifles 
light  as  air' '  happily  fill  up  the  days  of  those  women  to 
whom  American  luxury  is  both  enfeebling  and  jading. 
The  strong  man  is  not  needed  in  the  feather-ball  game 
of  high  life. 

That  one  rare  art  of  the  woman-catcher,  "never  to 
bring  up,  in  the  faintest  degree,  the  affairs  of  another 
woman,"  victoriously  carried  Vreeland  on  into  the 
vacant  halls  of  the  filles  de  marbre.  And  so,  "Mr. 
Harold  Vreeland"  was  universally  voted  "a  charming 
man  of  vast  culture  and  rare  accomplishments." 

Fortunately,  Mr.  Fred  Hathorn  had  widely  trum 
peted  abroad  the  Montana  bonanza,  and  the  vulgar 
slavering  over  an  easily  assumed  wealth  carried  him 
on  both  fast  and  far. 

In  his  own  heart,  one  carefully  crystallized  plan  had 
already  matured.  To  reach  the  innermost  holy  of 
holies  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  heart,  and  then,  to  rule 
at  Lakemere — to  secretly  lord  it  later  in  the 
Circassia.  With  a  fine  acumen,  he  refrained  from 
making  a  single  enemy  among  her  sighing  swains  or 
her  fawning  women  parasites.  "They  must  not 
suspect  my  game  here,"  he  sleekly  smiled. 

But  one  brooding  shadow  hung  over  the  sunshine 
of  these  days.  He  was  always  aware  of  the  frequent 
visits  of  Judge  Endicott.  And  Justine's  recitals 
proved  to  him  that  a  hidden  sorrow  had  its  seat  in  her 
mistress'  soul. 

There  were  dark  days  when  Elaine  Willoughby's 
heart  failed  under  the  burden  of  a  past  which  Vree 
land  had  never  tried  to  penetrate.  She  was  inacces- 


58  IN  THE  SWIM. 

sible  then.  Guarding  a  perfect  silence  as  to  his  own 
antecedents,  he  trusted  to  her  in  time  to  unfold  to 
him  the  secrets  of  the  heart  which  he  had  secretly 
sworn  to  dominate. 

' '  I  can  be  patient.  I  can  afford  to  wait, ' '  he  mused, 
as  with  a  faithful  assiduity  he  came  and  went,  and 
marked  no  shadows  on  the  happy  dial  of  those  sum 
mer  days. 

"She  is  worth  serving  seven  years  for,"  he  mused; 
"and,  for  her  fortune — with  Lakemere — seventeen." 

"When  I  am  master  here,"  he  secretly  exulted,  "I 
can  say:  'Soul!  thou  hast  much  goods!'  " 

And  so  he  bided  his  time,  and  yet,  with  keen 
analysis,  decided  to  make  his  coup  before  the  fretful 
and  intriguing  Hathorn  returned. 

"It  is  the  one  chance  of  a  lifetime,"  he  mused,  as  he 
paced  the  lawns  of  Lakemere.  "Once  that  her  social 
support  would  be  withdrawn,  once  that  this  suspicious 
devil,  Hathorn,  would  'drop  on'  the  dangerous  game 
I  am  playing,  I  would  be  soon  ground  between  the 
millstones  of  fate." 

And  his  soul  was  uneasy  as  the  October  days 
approached  and  the  blue  haze  of  the  golden  Indian 
summer  began  to  drift  down  the  Hudson. 

He  came  to  the  conclusion  at  last  to  put  his  fate  to 
the  test.  For  certain  letters  received  from  Hathorn 
at  the  Isle  of  Wight  had  prepared  him  for  the 
explosion  of  a  social  bomb  which  wrecked  forever 
Frederick  Hathorn' s  dreams  of  regaining  the  alien 
ated  heart  of  the  woman  who  had  led  him  up  the 
ladder  of  life. 

And  that  part  of  the  situation  which  was  seen  "as 
through  a  glass  darkly"  was  quickly  made  clear  by 
the  confidence  of  a  fond  woman  who  had  begun  to 


IN  THE  SWIM.  59 

invest  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  with  all  the  virtues  and 
many  of  the  graces.  Caught  on  the  rebound,  her 
heart  was  opening  to  her  artful  admirer. 

The  thorns  upon  Hathorn's  rosebud  were  sharp 
enough.  He  already  felt  the  keenness  of  the  petted 
Mme.  Alida's  egoistic  and  unruly  nature.  And,  in 
a  clouded  present,  he  looked  back  regretfully  to  a 
golden  past,  with  every  fear  of  a  stormy  future.  It 
was  the  old  story  of  two  women  and  one  man,  with  the 
poisoned-tongued  society  intermeddler. 

There  had  been  a  little  happening  at  the  Isle  of 
Wight  which  was  the  direct  result  of  the  young 
millionaire  matron  displaying  at  a  yachting  ball  the 
diamond  necklace  which  had  been  Elaine  Willoughby'  s 
wedding  gift.  Then,  the  tongue  of  envy  found  its 
ready  venom. 

One  of  those  sleek  devils  in  woman  form  who  are 
the  social  scavengers  of  the  world,  had  glowered  upon 
those  secretly  coveted  gems  as  they  rose  and  fell  upon 
the  bosom  of  the  young  moonlight  beauty. 

She  uttered  lying  words  which  sent  Alida  Hathorn 
back  to  her  summer  cottage  with  pallid  lips  and  heart 
aflame. 

The  story  was  soon  wafted  across  the  sea  by  a  sister 
spider,  who  had  easily  followed  on  the  first  bitter 
quarrel  between  the  two  parties  to  the  "marriage  of 
the  year."  And  Harold  Vreeland,  now  on  post,  a 
watchful  sentinel  at  Elaine  Willoughby' s  side,  was 
the  first  one  to  whom  her  own  outraged  heart  was 
poured  out,  as  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris  drove  back  to 
her  own  lair  at  Larchmont. 

Out  in  the  dreamy  gardens,  in  a  summer  house,  to 
the  accompaniment  of  falling  leaves  and  sighing 
pines,  the  indignant  lady  of  Lakemere  told  her  ardent 


60  IN  THE  SWIM. 

listener  the  story  of  a  shameful  jealousy  and  the 
outpouring  of  a  maddened  woman's  wrath. 

It  gave  to  Harold  Vreeland  the  needed  cue.  The 
decisive  moment  had  come,  and  he  hazarded  his 
future  upon  the  chance  of  meeting  her  confidence  with 
a  fine  burst  of  manly  sympathy. 

To  range  himself  forever  under  her  colors,  and  to 
craftily  lie  to  her,  and  not  in  vain. 

His  audacious  devil  sprite  once  more  urged  him  to 
be  both  bold  and  wise. 

Elaine  Willoughby's  eyes  were  flashing  as  she 
repeated  the  relation  of  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris,  who, 
"so  anxious  that  her  dear  friend  should  know  all  and 
not  be  exposed  to  the  ignominy  of  a  'dead  cut'  from 
Hathorn's  headstrong  wife."  "And,  as  he  is  a  Idche, 
I  would  use  the  'baby  stare'  first,  my  dear  Elaine,"  was 
the  parting  shot  of  the  departing  McMorris.  The  lady 
of  Lakemere  was  a  roused  tigress  now. 

Harold  Vreeland  listened  breathlessly  to  the  story 
of  the  bitter  taunt  that  the  diamond  necklace  and 
parting  dinner  had  been  Elaine  Willoughby's  crafty 
"sop  to  the  social  Cerberus"  in  giving  her  handsome 
secret  lover,  Hathorn,  only  a  furlough  for  the  honey 
moon. 

The  insinuation  that  the  young  husband  would 
carry  on  a  menage  a  trois  had  crazed  the  suspicious 
heiress,  whose  new  wedding  bonds  burned  like  molten 

gold. 

"I  shall  soon  know  if  Frederick  Hathorn  is  an 
unutterable  craven,"  proudly  said  Elaine  to  her 
serpent  listener. 

"She  has  publicly  boasted  that  he  shall  cease  all 
semblance  of  friendship  with  me,  and  Mrs.  McMorris 
told  me  that  Alida  had  forced  every  detail  of  our 


IN  THE  SWIM.  6 1 

past  intimacy  out  of  her  husband,  who  admitted  only 
a  confidential  business  relation. 

"  'Break  it  off!'  was  Alida's  ultimatum,  and  she 
has  publicly  declared  'war  to  the  knife.' 

"When  Hathorn  referred  to  our  business  connection, 
so  profitable  to  the  firm,  Alida  had  cried:  'I  have 
money  enough  for  both  of  us.  I  married  a  gentleman, 
not  a  counter  jumper!  You  shall  drop  all  this  humbug 
business  which  has  been  the  cloak  to  your  amourette.''  ' 

Elaine  Willoughby  saw  the  wonderment  of  Vree- 
land'  s  eyes.  With  a  blush  reddening  her  pale  cheek, 
she  faltered:  "The  maid  overheard  the  quarrel,  and 
she  told  Mrs.  McMorris  all.  She  was  once  her  own 
attendant." 

"That  McMorris  is  a  genius,"  mused  Vreeland,  as 
Mrs.  Willoughby  concluded:  "And,  Hathorn  has 
been  silent.  I  have  not  heard  one  word  from  him. ' ' 
Her  bosom  heaved  as  she  gloomily  said:  "I  will 
give  him  a  last  chance  to  speak  out,  and  if  he  acts  the 
moral  coward,  then  it  is  war  to  the  knife! 

"Her  husband's  lady-love!  An  ex-goddess!  'A 
star  on  the  retired  list!'  I  will  make  her  pay  for 
these  brutal  vulgarities !  I  will  force  him  to  speak, 
and  in  her  presence!" 

The  artful  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  fancied  that  he 
had  discovered  the  reason  of  the  storms  of  sorrow 
which  had  swept  over  the  lady  of  Lakemere.  He 
knew  not  of  Endicott's  bootless  quest  for  a  message 
from  the  misty  shores  of  the  past.  ' '  These  two  women 
foes  will  decide  my  fate!"  he  quickly  decided.  "Here 
is  the  place  to  leap  into  the  breach  and  widen  it." 

Taking  Elaine  Willoughby 's  trembling  hands  in  his 
own,  he  fixed  his  ardent  eyes  upon  her,  and  once 


62  IN  THE  SWIM. 

more  her  glances  fell  under  the  spell  of  his  steady 
gaze. 

His  voice  had  the  ring  of  sincerity  in  it  as  he  pro 
ceeded  with  a  feigned  reluctance. 

"You  need  not  wait,  Madonna!"  Mr.  Vreeland  had 
easily  reached  the  stage  of  a  special  appellation  for 
the  Queen  of  the  Street. 

"He  has  already  spoken,  and  I  will  fight  in  this 
good  cause — to  the  death,  under  your  colors." 

He  drew  out  a  letter  from  Hathorn  and  read  it 
slowly,  without  a  single  comment,  and  with  a  dra 
matic,  hushed  solemnity. 

Before  he  had  finished  he  saw  in  her  glowing  eyes 
that  she  was  his  prey.  The  poisoned  arrow  had  struck 
home.  She  was,  after  all,  a  woman  at  heart. 

Hathorn' s  jerky  letter  referred  to  the  "end  of  the 
season,"  "a  return  incognito,"  and  demanded  an 
early  meeting  with  his  chum.  "I  presume  that  you 
know  all  of  Potter's  troubles.  He  wants  to  become 
a  'special  partner,'  and  then  to  go  away  for  two 
years.  You  must  join  us  at  once,  or  I  must  find 
another  man.  So,  have  your  answer  ready. ' '  Elaine 
Willoughby  was  silent  until  Vreeland  slowly  read : 

"I  count  on  you  to  control  in  future  Mrs.  Wil 
loughby 's  business.  Make  yourself  her  friend  and 
confidant.  My  wife  is  a  tiger-cat  of  jealousy.  Some 
fools  or  fiends  have  been  working  upon  her  spoiled 
babyhood.  I've  vainly  told  her  that  the  woman 
whom  she  hates  was  past  her  youth  and  old  enough 
to  be  her  mother ;  but  she  will  listen  to  no  reason. 

"Now,  old  fellow,  you  can  easily  gain  Mrs. 
Willoughby 's  good  will.  Her  account  is  the  best  on 
the  Street,  and,  in  this  way,  if  you  join  us,  we  can 
divide  the  profits,  and  I  am  then  safe  from  a  fruitless 


IN  THE  SWIM.  63 

quarrel.  Of  course,  I've  got  to  drop  the  Willoughby 
for  good. ' ' 

There  was  a  shrill  cry  of  rage  and  defiance.  Vree- 
land's  heart  leaped  up. 

"Let  me  read  the  rest  of  that  alone"  cried  Elaine, 
with  blazing  eyes.  After  a  moment's  pause,  she 
handed  it  back,  when  she  had  noted  Hathorn's  signa 
ture. 

"He  asks  you  to  cable  him  your  decision!"  breath 
lessly  said  the  Queen  of  the  Street. 

"I  have  simply  telegraphed:  ''Impossible!  I  decline T  " 
answered  Vreeland,  and  then,  in  the  silence  the  shade 
of  Judas  Iscariot  laughed  far  down  in  hell. 

Their  hands  met  in  a  silent  pledge  of  a  friendship 
which  shone  in  Elaine  Willoughby 's  misty  eyes. 
"How  can  I  thank  you?"  she  began;  but  gravely 
Harold  Vreeland  addressed  her  to  her  growing 
astonishment. 

"Wait!"  he  said,  with  a  seeming  reluctance.  "I 
never  would  have  shown  you  that  letter  but  to  save 
your  own  noble  soul  from  the  humiliation  of  stooping 
to  a  conference  with  a  man  who  would  so  meanly 
trade  upon  your  past  bounty  and  try  to  trap  you, 
through  me.  Your  confidence  has  brought  this  out. 
But,  you  must  hear  all.  I  claim  no  credit  for  declin 
ing  to  be  the  man  to  hoodwink  you.  'The  pleasant 
days  of  Aranjuez'  are  waning  fast.  I  am  soon  going 
to  leave  New  York  and  go  back  to  the  great  West. ' ' 

Vreeland  noted  the  quick,  convulsive  start,  and  his 
heart  rejoiced  as  she  grasped  his  hands,  whispering: 
"Never!  My  one  faithful  knight  shall  stay  here  near 
me  to  battle  in  my  defense,  'even  if  I  am  old  enough 
to  be  Alida  Hathorn's  mother.'  Tell  me  all.  It  is 
my  right  now  to  know  all  your  plans. " 

5 


64  IN  THE  SWIM. 

The  handsome  adventurer  raised  his  grave  face  to 
her  own.  "I  will,  if  you  will  promise  me  to  ignore 
these  two  people — the  hollow-hearted  man  who 
would  use  me  to  entrap  you,  and  that  saucy  girl,  a 
spoiled  child  from  her  cradle.  Hathorn  carries  his 
own  future  punishment  around  with  him  in  that  crisp 
bundle  of  dimity." 

The  unspoken  pledge  of  her  eyes  told  him  that  his 
coup  had  succeeded.  "By  Jove!"  he  mused,  "she  is 
only  a  woman,  like  the  rest.  The  taunt  as  to  her  age 
has  cut  her  deeper  than  this  fellow's  rank  ingrati 
tude." 

He  gazed  upon  her  Indian  summer  beauty,  and  his 
eyes  strayed  away  to  the  pillared  glories  of  the 
matchless  country  mansion.  "She's  worth  the  risk — 
with  Lakemere,"  he  reflected.  "I'll  try  it!"  He 
yielded  and  spoke,  and  she  listened  with  tender  eyes. 

And  the  shadows  deepened  around  them,  as  the 
young  schemer  told  a  plaintive  story  of  emotional 
lying  embroidery  to  the  woman  whose  agitated  heart 
was  swept  with  a  storm  of  revengeful  feeling. 

A  passionate  desire  to  punish  the  younger  woman 
whose  husband  had  used  the  mean  taunt  of  her  sunset 
years  to  quiet  the  jealous  little  spitfire  heiress. 

"I  did  not  come  to  New  York  City  under  false 
pretenses,"  began  Vreeland,  "but,  Hathorn  has  taken 
me  wrongly  to  be  a  rich  man.  I  am  only  a  poor  man 
to-day,  and  a  weary  and  a  lonely  life  lies  before  me." 

"I  could  not  muster  the  hundred  thousand  dollars 
needed  to  go  into  their  firm,  for  I  have  made  myself 
poor  in  the  discharge  of  a  sacred  duty. ' ' 

With  a  fine  affectation  of  manly  earnestness,  he  then 
told  the  generous-hearted  woman  a  romantic  tale  of 
his  gifted  father's  career,  and  of  the  death  of  his 


IN  THE  SWIM.  65 

patient  mother.  He  judiciously  unfolded  the  story  of 
his  father's  professional  errors,  and  painted  that 
"sudden  taking  off"  in  the  wilds  of  Montana. 

A  knowledge  of  Judge  Endicott's  encyclopedic 
memory,  and  some  previous  hints  from  the  wary 
Justine,  caused  Vreeland  to  put  in  a  hidden  plea  in 
bar,  to  offset  any  private  researches  of  the  only  two 
men  whom  he  feared  in  Elaine's  glittering  entourage. 
They  were  the  silver-haired  Hiram  Endicott  and  the 
manly  Conyers. 

Once  or  twice  he  had  observed  the  latter's  eyes 
searching  him  in  no  unmeaning  hostility. 

There  were  tears  on  Elaine  Willoughby's  lashes  as 
he  concluded  with  manly  earnestness : 

' '  Left  with  a  supposedly  ample  fortune,  I  found,  on 
an  examination  of  my  father's  private  papers,  that 
there  was  before  me  a  sacred  task  of  restitution. 
A  work  of  self-abnegation,  of  simple  honesty,  lay 
before  me. 

' '  I  had  never  known  of  the  baleful  influence  of  the 
woman  who  led  my  father  (once  in  her  clutches)  on  to 
lead  a  double  life. 

"But,  in  justice  to  his  own  better  self  and  in  honor 
of  my  beloved  mother's  memory,  I  gave  up  nearly 
all,  and  so  arrived  here  with  only  a  few  thousand 
dollars  in  my  pocket. ' ' 

The  shades  had  deepened  around  them  when  he  con 
cluded  with  his  last  master  stroke  of  manly  simplicity. 

"Chance  threw  me  across  Hathorn  in  the  train  as 
I  came  here  to  collect  the  only  honest  money  left  to 
me  after  my  work  of  secret  restitution  was  done.  I 
saw  that  he  valued  only  money — success — and  the 
glitter  of  your  hot-hearted  swell  circles. 

"It  was  hard  for  me  to  dishonor  a  father's  memory. 
5 


66  IN  THE  SWIM. 

To  undeceive  my  old  college  friend,  I  intended  to 
ask  him  later  for  aid — for  employment.  But  I  soon 
saw  that  I  would  not  get  it.  He  fell  into  the 
innocent  error  of  supposing  me  to  be  very  rich. 

"And,"  the  young  special  pleader  rose  as  he  said, 
under  his  voice,  "/  met  you  there — at  the  depot!  My 
heart  and  soul  craved  another  sight  of  you.  And 
that  I  might  meet  you  again,  /  did  not  undeceive  him. 

"You  know  the  rest.  I  have  been  true  to  you,  and 
I  have  given  up  my  last  hope  of  fortune  in  refusing 
to  be  his  tool. ' ' 

He  could  see  her  splendid  eyes  shining  upon  him 
through  her  happy  tears. 

"Let  us  go  in,  Harold,"  she  softly  said.  "I  must 
think !  I  must  think !  But  promise  me  that  you  will 
not  go  away  from  New  York  till  I  bid  you.  Trust  to 
me." 

"I  promise","  he"  gravely  said,  as  he  lifted  her 
trembling  hand  and  kissed  it,  and  then,  arm  in  arm, 
they  wandered  back  to  her  splendid  pleasaunce  palace. 
//  was  the  "betrayal  with  a  kiss.  " 

After  the  dinner,  to  which  a  few  of  the  nearest 
county  magnates  had  been  previously  bidden,  Vree- 
land  watched  Elaine's  imperial  bearing  as  she  proudly 
queened  it  in  the  drawing  room. 

A  richer  rose  burned  upon  her  cheek.  Her  eyes 
were  lit  up  with  a  strange  fire,  and  her  magnificent 
voice  echoed  in  every  heart  with  a  thrill  of  a  quivering 
life,  as  her  defiant  soul  rose  to  the  prelude  of  that 
coming  war  with  the  jealous  girl  who  had  determined 
to  shine  down  the  Lady  of  Lakemere. 

The  last  carriage  load  of  guests  had  rattled  away, 
and  Mme.  Lafarge,  wearied  "dame  de  compagnie,"  was 
nodding,  with  her  eyes  hopefully  fixed  upon  the  old 


IN  THE  SWIM.  67 

colonial  hall  clock,  when  Elaine  said,  softly:  "One 
last  word  with  you  in  the  library." 

The  Queen  of  the  Street  stood  there  with  downcast 
eyes  before  the  great  carved  mantle,  as  she  slowly 
said:  "They  will  arrive  in  three  or  four  days.  You 
must  confirm  your  answer  to  him. 

"He  has  told  me  that  you  know  stocks,  and  are 
familiar  with  all  board  matters. " 

Vreeland  bowed  in  silence. 

"Then,"  she  said,  fixing  her  sparkling  eyes  upon 
him,  "I  will  make  you  a  confession.  I  had  decided  to 
withdraw  gradually  my  entire  business  from  their 
firm.  In  fact,  I  have  been  already  secretly  operating 
through  a  trusted  friend  on  the  outside. 

"You  must  find  a  good  man,  one  acceptable  to 
Hiram  Endicott. 

"I  will  set  you  up,  and  Hathorn  &  Potter  shall  soon 
find  a  rival.  I  will  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's 
camp.  So  be  on  your  guard.  Hathorn  must  never 
know! 

"It  is  the  only  punishment  for  his  abandonment  at 
the  first  hostile  signal  from  his  enraged  wife.  I  have 
made  him  on  the  Street!  I  can  unmake  him!"  Her 
voice  had  the  ring  of  a  singing  bugle  calling  to  arms. ' ' 

"But,  I  have  no  money,"  the  crafty  Judas  faltered. 

"Leave  that  to  me,"  laughingly  said  Elaine.  "You 
are  now  my  own  knight.  Here  are  your  colors." 

She  handed  him  a  knot  of  ribbon  blue.  "Come  to 
me  next  week.  Meet  him  frankly  and  decline  all 
connection.  Senator  Alynton  will  be  here  then." 

And  she  smiled  and  pressed  a  rosy  finger  to  her  lips. 

"The  Sugar  magnate!"  whispered  the  happy  Vree 
land,  as  he  stood  spellbound,  while  his  goddess  fled  up 
the  stair,  leaving  him  there  alone. 


68  IN  THE  SWIM. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
"WYMAN   AND    VREELAND"  SWING     THE     STREET. 

Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  was  awake  with  the  birds,  and 
in  an  early  morning  walk  long  communed  with  him 
self  under  the  whispering  trees  of  Lakemere.  The 
enchanting  prospect  of  the  superb  estate  delighted  his 
eyes  more  with  every  visit.  He  blessed  the  goddess 
Fortune,  and  smiled  truly,  "the  lines  have  fallen  to 
me  in  pleasant  places  f" 

It  was  only  with  a  severe  struggle  that  he  concealed 
the  secret  joy  now  burning  in  his  heart,  and  he  care 
fully  laid  out  all  his  plans  for  the  crucial  week  to 
come.  He  must  widen  the  breach. 

There  was  the  conference  with  Senator  Alynton, 
Hiram  Endicott,  and  that  strange  "big  brother,"  Hugh 
Conyers.  He  felt  instinctively  that  these  three  men 
would  not  share  "Madonna's"  enthusiasm. 

He  aimed  to  continually  efface  himself  and  to  allow 
the  resentful  woman  to  goad  herself  along  in  the  path 
of  social  and  financial  revenge. 

"Any  fool  can  stand  hard  times,  but  it  takes  a  wise 
man  to  keep  his  head,  under  a  run  of  winning  luck!" 
he  mused,  with  reminiscences  of  "Mr.  John  Oak- 
hurst"  and  his  pithy  proverb,  that  "the  luck  usually 
got  tired — before  the  man  did. ' ' 

He  retraced  his  steps  to  the  house,  and  was  most 
calmly  quiescent  and  tenderly  respectful  in  his  adieu. 

"That  burst  of  confidence  has  fixed  her— -for  good!" 
he  mused. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  69 

"You  are  to  report  to  me,  here,  by  letter,  the  result 
of  your  interview  with  that  man !"  hurriedly  whispered 
Elaine  Willoughby,  as  her  "knight"  turned  toward  the 
wagonette.  "I  will  summon  you  here,  when  Alynton 
comes.  Do  nothing  else.  Leave  all  to  me."  And 
his  eyes  burned  into  her  soul,  as  he  promised  a  happy 
slave's  obedience. 

The  bright  smile  of  the  dark-eyed  enthusiast  haunted 
him  all  the  way  to  New  York.  ' '  Talleyrand  was  right, ' ' 
he  murmured,  at  ease  in  the  parlor  car,  "Point  de 
zele!  She  will  make  all  the  running  for  me."  He 
enjoyed  the  salutations  showered  right  and  left  on 
him,  as  the  train  picked  up  the  men  of  note  carrying 
the  hopes  and  fears  of  a  new  week  to  Gotham.  "I 
am  a  somebody  now!"  he  grinned. 

The  rising  light  of  the  Sentinel  and  Locust  clubs, 
the  man  who  had  superbly  engineered  the  brilliant 
Hathorn-VanSittart's  nuptials — "the  great  Montana 
capitalist,"  was  surely  a  man  of  mark,  and  Nature's 
easy  gifts  had  earned  him  a  warm  welcome  in  the 
slightly  jaded  circles  of  the  Four  Hundred.  He  was, 
moreover,  a  "new  face,"  and  several  spasms  of  unrest 
under  aristocratic  corsages  had  already  proved  that 
there  were  eyes  "which  brightened  when  he  came." 

As  for  his  false  role  of  man  of  leisure  and  elegant — 
"custom  of  it,  had  made  a  property  of  easiness."  "I 
am  a  fraud — and — half  these  anaemic  swells  are  fools 
as  well  as  frauds! — I  am  content!"  he  smilingly 
decided,  as  he  reviewed  his  plans  for  a  daring  course 
during  the  next  trying  week. 

As  he  had  surmised,  a  telegram  awaited  him  at  the 
Waldorf  from  the  returned  Hathorn.  It  was  of  a 
simple  directness. 

"Meet  me  to-night,  seven.     Old  York  Club.     Must 


70  IN  THE  SWIM. 

have  your  answer  reconsidered.  Every  inducement 
possible. ' '  The  subtle  smile  of  triumph  which  played 
around  his  lips  recalled  Private  Ortheri's  stern  remark, 
"See  that  beggar — got  him!" — as  he  dropped  the 
faraway  Pathan  with  the  "long  shot." 

All  day,  Frederick  Hathorn  secretly  tormented  him 
self  over  the  curt  answer,  "Will  be  there.  Vreeland. ' ' 
There  was  much  before  the  tortured  bridegroom  to 
arrange.  The  mutinous  Dickie  Doubleday,  phantom 
of  audacious  and  unrestful  beauty,  was  now  driving 
Mr.  James  Potter  out  of  his  wits. 

He  longed  for  a  '  'boat  upon  the  shore  and  a  bark 
upon  the  sea!"  He  had  learned  that  in  some  distant 
Afghan  hole  called  ' '  Swat, ' '  there  were  neither  post- 
offices,  telegraphs,  banks,  detectives,  song  and  dance 
theatres,  nor  any  of  the  machinery  of  a  "bastard  civili 
zation'  '  which  the  reckless  Miss  Dickie  could  work  to 
ensnare  or  follow  him. 

"By  Gad!  Just  the  place!  I'll  get  a  white  shirt- 
brown  myself  up  like  parched  coffee,  and  turn  into  a 
Ghazi,  or  Dervish,  or  fighting  Mollah — or,  any  old 
thing.  She  is  a  hummer.  Pray  God,  that  some  other 
good-looking  fellow  will  soon  catch  her  'wandering 
eye.'  Her  constancy  is  an  'abnormal  feature'  of  later 
development.  This  is  the  only  time  in  her  life  that 
she  has  stuck  to  a  victim — for  over  three  months. 
Other  fellows  should  help  me  bear  the  burden." 

There  was  all  the  details  of  Hathorn 's  newly  en 
hanced  social  state  to  arrange.  The  Union  and 
Metropolitan  clubs  were  to  be  haunt  of  Benedick — the 
married  man.  And — the  war  to  the  knife,  the  fight 
of  Marius  and  Sylla  now  lay  before  him. 

There  was  Oakwood,  his  wife's  magnificent  place  at 
Ashmont,  awaiting  its  social  monture.  Her  Imperious 


IN  THE  SWIM.  71 

Ladyship  Alida  had  ordered  him  to  go  in  for  the  pen 
nant-bearing  honors  of  Vice  Commodore  of  the 
Ashmont  Yacht  Club,  and  her  beautiful  schooner, 
"L'Allouette, "  was  awaiting  his  practical  hand. 

A  positive  mandate  for  the  best  box  at  the  Horse 
Show,  and  a  royal  gallery  box  in  the  tiara- wearing  tier 
of  the  Opera,  were  matters  of  pressing  urgency. 

Hathorn  was  already  "broken  in"  as  a  "general 
advance  agent"  and  "heavy  man"  for  his  wife's 
"Great  Moral  Matrimonial  Show,"  and  that  lady, 
with  the  coming  Hathorn -Willoughby  feud  first  in  her 
mind,  had  brought  luggage  enough  for  Cleopatra  and 
all  her  nymphs  on  that  record-breaking  voyage  of 
splendor  to  the  Cydnus. 

All  these  and  many  more  things  busied  the  dis 
gruntled  Hathorn  until  the  hour  set  for  the  meeting 
with  Vreeland.  He  had  posted  his  wife  and  her  train 
away  up  to  the  Buckingham,  for  he  felt,  instinctively, 
that  the  handsome  groomsman  was  not  just  the  party 
to  linger  around  his  newly-enclosed  sheepfold. 

He  had  already  discovered  several  shades  of  color  in 
his  rosebud  not  visible  to  the  ante -nuptial  eye,  and, 
moreover,  he  was  hungry  for  news  of  Elaine  Wil 
loughby  and  of  her  state  of  mind.  He  now  saw 
the  "firm's"  interests  seriously  endangered. 

There  was  the  vastly  profitable  past  business  con 
nection,  and  "Sugar,"  too,  loomed  up  before  him  now 
as  a  vanishing  pyramid  of  alluring  sweetness.  He 
knew  that  the  woman  whom  he  had  coldly  left  had 
been  the  very  spirit  of  his  own  wonderful  success. 

But  Hathorn  never  knew  how  eagerly  Vreeland,  at 
the  Waldorf,  his  anxiety  veiled  by  a  thoughtful  smile, 
watched  the  clock  hands  crawl  around  till  seven. 

"That  fool  has  but  one  chance  left  to  ruin  me  forever 


72  IN  THE  SWIM. 

— and — to  block  my  little  game!"  restlessly  reflected 
Vreeland.  "If  he  only  had  the  manly  nerve  to  dash 
up  to  Lakemere  and  to  throw  himself  there  on  Elaine's 
generosity,  he  might  be  forgiven — even  now.  The 
swaying  bosom  of  womanhood  is  always  ripe  for  for 
giveness.  A  woman  is  fondly  weak  to  a  man  who 
calls  up  a  lost  love.  And  he  has  been  all  in  all  to  her, 
in  the  past  days. 

"She  set  him  up  on  a  high  pedestal  and  fairly  wor 
shiped  him. 

"Perhaps  he  felt  like  the  Frenchman,  that  two 
women  are  necessary  to  every  man — one  whom  he 
loves,  and  one  who  loves  him." 

But  the  telegraphed  reports  of  his  secret  spies  arriv 
ing  every  half  hour,  told  the  delighted  Vreeland  that 
Hathorn  was  still  "at  the  office. " 

"Give  me  to-night,  and  just  one  telegram  to  reach 
the  Madonna — then — I  will  have  made  that  breach 
irrevocable!"  gleefully  cried  Vreeland,  as  he  was 
driven  down  to  the  Old  York  Club. 

The  two  men  met  in  an  apparent  cordiality,  and  the 
Western  man's  poker  nerve  stood  by  him,  as  he  calmly 
enjoyed  a  dinner,  at  which  Hathorn  merely  nibbled, 
with  an  ill-concealed  restlessness. 

They  exhausted  all  the  usual  banalities  with  regard 
to  the  well-beaten  paths  of  the  wedding  tour,  and  Mr. 
Vreeland  was  graceful  in  all  his  perfunctory  interest 
in  the  young  Adam  and  Eve  in  their  newly  found 
Paradise. 

'When  the  cigars  and  liqueurs  brought  them  around  to 
the  "hard-pan"  stage  of  the  interview,  and  a  guarded 
seclusion,  with  a  slow  constrained  manner — Frederick 
Hathorn  began  to  carefully  interrogate  the  "devil 
whom  he  had  let  out  of  the  bottle. ' ' 


IN  THE  SWIM.  73 

Vreeland  keenly  eyed  the  speaker  through  the  blue- 
curling  smoke  of  a  Henry  Clay,  and,  when  Hathorn 
had  reviewed  all  his  past  arguments  as  to  the  proposed 
business  connection,  he  buried  his  head  in  his  hands 
in  deep  thought. 

Hathorn  had  even  offered  to  aid  Vreeland  with  the 
capital  to  qualify  him  as  a  member  of  the  projected 
firm  of  "Hathorn,  Potter  &  Vreeland."  It  was  a 
clear  "giveaway"  of  his  temporizing  fears  of  the 
coming  war. 

"You  see,  you  could  swing  Mrs.  Willoughby's 
account  and  give  it  your  special  attention,"  concluded 
the  man  who  had  now  shown  every  card  in  his  hand. 

Hathorn  noticed,  with  a  growing  uneasiness,  that 
Vreeland  had  been  very  reticent.  The  "Montana 
capitalist' '  had  grown  pompously  solemn. 

Suddenly  his  old  college  chum  lifted  his  head,  and 
frankly  eyed  the  anxious  banker.  "Have  you  con 
ferred  with  Mrs.  Willoughby  on  this  plan?"  he  said, 
curtly.  It  was  pinning  his  dupe  to  the  cross — this  sly 
thrust. 

Hathorn  stammered,  as  he  reddened,  "Why — no!  I 
have  left  that  all  to  you.  I  have  not  written  her  nor 
seen  her,  since  the  wedding  dinner.  The  fact  is — ' '  and 
the  alert  man  of  the  world  was  left  strangely  searching 
for  words  which  seemed  to  die  away  on  his  lips. 
He  dared  not  betray  his  wife's  orders. 

"I  may  as  well  say  frankly,"  impressively  remarked 
Vreeland,  "and,  right  here — once  for  all,  that  I  can 
not  enter  your  firm.  I  have  made  other  plans.  The 
thing  you  propose  is  impossible.  I  am  sorry — but  it 
is  impossible.'* 

"How  does  Mrs.  Willoughby  look  at  it?  I  thought 
that  you  were  getting  on  splendidly  there?"  feebly 


74  IN  THE  SWIM. 

urged  Hathorn,    conscious  that  he  was  very  rapidly 
slipping  "down  hill." 

There  was  a  fine  show  of  regret  in  Vreeland's  speak 
ing  eyes,  as  he  slowly  answered,  ' '  My  dear  boy !  You 
have  made  the  mistake  of  your  life.  There  are  some 
very  ugly  social  rumors  current  in  my  clubs — "  he 
paused,  "more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger." 

"And  those  stories  wafted  over  the  sea  do  not  lose  by 
the  telling.  I  have  refrained  from  even  mentioning 
your  name,  or  that  of  your  wife,  to  Mrs.  Willoughby 
since  this  petticoat  cabal  has  taken  up  the  subject  of 
the  impending  social  war.  Women's  unbridled  tongues 
are  the  furies'  whip-lashes." 

Hathorn  sprang  up  in  excitement.  '  'By  Jove !  Hod ! 
I  look  to  you  to  tell  me  the  whole  miserable  business. 
I've  taken  you  up  and  worked  you  in  at  Lakemere. 
You  have  got  to  stand  by  me  now. " 

"Hold  on!  Stop  right  there."  coldly  remarked 
Vreeland,  with  a  vicious  gleam  in  his  stony  eyes.  "I 
never  mention  a  woman's  name.  That  is  a  point  of 
honor  with  me.  I  am  no  club  scavenger. 

"You  know  what  you  owe  to  Elaine  Willoughby. 
She  was  the  architect  of  your  fortunes.  Perhaps  she 
builded  better  than  she  knew. 

"You  can  not  face  the  situations  publicly.  I  advise 
you  to  keep  silent — and — to  keep  others  silent. 

"Now,  beyond  that  I  will  not  go.  I  feel  that  your 
references  to  me,  and  what  you  have  done  for  me, 
authorize  me  to  say  that  I  have  more  than  repaid 
you  in  the  volunteer  labors  of  your  wedding. 

"Once  for  all,  let  us  drop  Mrs.  Willoughby.  I  will 
not,  in  any  way,  take  sides  in  this  unfortunate  affair, 
save  to  silently  cleave  to  the  Lady  of  Lakemere, 
through  good  and  evil  report. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  75 

"If  you  dare  not  face  her,  if  you  have  abandoned  her 
to  the  mercies  of  the  pack  of  be-diamonded  old  ghouls 
who  are  slandering  her,  you  know,  of  course,  that 
you  will  close  the  door  of  your  house  to  every  friend 
of  hers."  The  bridegroom  was  cornered — and  his 
heart  was  filled  with  a  sullen  despair. 

Hathorn  strode  up  and  down  the  room  in  a  white 
rage.  He  paused,  at  last,  before  Vreeland,  and  then, 
in  a  choking  voice,  said:  "I  must  ask  you  to  return 
my  last  confidential  letter. ' ' 

Vreeland  calmly  moved  toward  the  door.  "I  am  a 
free  man — am  I  not?"  he  quietly  said.  "I  believe  a 
letter  is  the  property  of  the  party  to  whom  addressed 
when  regularly  delivered  through  the  mail.  When 
you  divide  the  clans  of  society  you  will  find  me — on 
the  other  side. 

"And,  as  my  time  is  of  value,  you  will  now  excuse 
me.  Don't  force  me  to  tell  Potter,  whom  I  respect, 
that  you  only  wanted  to  use  me  as  a  stool  pigeon  to 
entrap  the  woman  who  has  made  you  what  you  are — 
a  solid  man — in  Wall  Street!" 

With  a  mad  impulse,  Hathorn  sprang  to  the  door. 

"No!  by  Jove!  No  row  here!"  he  muttered,  and 
when  he  sauntered  downstairs  with  an  assumed  care 
lessness,  his  guest  had  departed. 

There  was  a  "lively  interlude  in  married  life" 
transacted  late  that  evening  "behind  closed  doors," 
at  the  Buckingham,  in  which  Mr.  Frederick  Hathorn, 
for  the  second  time  that  evening,  suffered  a  sore 
defeat,  and  "went  below"  to  seek  the  consolation  of 
Otard-Dupuy  &  Co.'s  very  ripe  old  pale  cognac. 

That  bright-eyed  falcon,  Alida  Hathorn,  then  and 
there  ran  up  the  red  flag  of  "War  to  the  Knife" — and 
"No  Surrender!" 


76  IN  THE  SWIM. 

But  the  jubilant  Harold  Vreeland  slept  not  till  he 
had  personally,  at  Broadway  and  Twenty-third 
Street,  sent  off  an  urgent  dispatch  to  Lakemere.  "I 
think  that  reads  strongly  enough,"  chuckled  Vree 
land,  as  he  gazed  on  the  words. 

"He  played  the  craven.  Wanted  me  to  give  him  secret  reports 
of  your  affairs,  and  then  demanded  his  letters  back.  All  relations 
are  permanently  broken  off.  Will  guard  absolute  silence." 

It  was  at  his  leisurely  breakfast  in  the  Palm 
Garden,  the  next  morning,  that  Vreeland,  with  a 
wildly-beating  heart,  tore  open  "Madonna's"  answer 
ing  message. 

He  stifled  the  cry  of  exultation  which  rose  to  his 
lips,  for  the  Rubicon  was  passed.  It  was  really  now 
"Guerra  a  cuchillo!" 

Elaine  Willoughby's  words  were  replete  with  that 
fortiter  in  re  which  the  unlucky  Hathorn  was  destined 
later  to  realize.  He  only  knew  her  suaviter  in  modo. 

'"''Ignore  him.  Be  ready  to  report  when  I  call  yon. 
Party  from  Washington  expected  in  three  days.  Stand 
to  your  colors!"  The  signature,  "True  Blue,"  was  a 
reminder  of  their  secret  pact. 

"I  think,  Mr.  Frederick  Hathorn,  that  I  have  you 
'dead  to  rights'  now,"  mused  Vreeland,  who  deter 
mined  that  the  "social  war"  should  blaze  up  fiercely, 
but  without  his  hand  at  the  bellows. 

A  round  of  calls  in  the  next  three  days  proved  to 
him  that  Mrs.  Alida  Hathorn  had  harked  back  on  all 
the  old  intimacy  of  the  unhappy  bridegroom,  and  was 
diligently  sowing  broadcast  the  Cadmus  teeth  of 
merciless  and  pointed  satire  upon  the  "sunset  beauty 
on  the  retired  list."  "A  woman  old  enough  to  be  my 
mother!" 

When  appealed  to  by  many  bright-eyed  banditti, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  77 

Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  merely  sadly  shook  his  head  in 
a  vague  deprecation.  "I  know  nothing  whatever," 
he  softly  sighed.  "All  this  sudden  gossip  is  Greek  to 
me,  Greek  of  Cimmerian  darkness." 

In  the  two  clubs  which  he  most  affected,  Vreeland 
— in  a  manly  burst  of  platform  oratory — when  appealed 
to  by  eager  quidnuncs — sternly  announced  his  code. 

"I  never  take  a  woman's  name  on  my  lips  in  gossip. 
I  know  nothing,  I  have  heard  nothing — and — excuse 
me — I  will  listen  to  nothing.  Both  the  ladies  are 
valued  friends  of  mine."  He  was  voted  a  "thorough 
bred." 

But,  in  his  craven  heart,  he  rejoiced  at  the  rapid 
spreading  of  the  war.  Knowing  that  Hathorn  would 
watch  him,  he  avoided  lower  New  York  until  after 
Madame  Elaine  Willoughby  had  made  one  brief 
downtown  visit  for  a  serious  consultation  with  her 
agent,  Endicott. 

With  a  well-judged  cautionary  wisdom,  he  also 
avoided  the  "Circassia,"  which  was,  indeed,  watched 
by  Hathorn's  spies,  and  he  grinned  with  delight  when 
his  growing  band  of  friends  re-echoed  his  own  skill 
fully  planted  suggestion  of  a  winter  trip  to  Europe. 

"I  am  thinking  of  an  extended  tour,"  he  frankly 
admitted,  and  he  soon  knew  that  this  had  reached  the 
humiliated  Hathorn,  for  James  Potter,  Esq.,  in  a  per 
sonal  visit,  urged  Vreeland  to  join  him  in  that  memo 
rable  expedition  to  "Swat,"  which  was  to  throw  the 
mutine  Miss  Dickie  Doubleday  forever  "off  the 
track." 

"I'll  give  you  a  carte  blanche  as  my  guest,  Vree 
land,"  laughed  Potter.  "You  can  take  anybody  you 
want  on  my  yacht — save  only  that  bright-eyed  devil, 
Dickie." 


78  IN  THE  SWIM. 

It  was  evident  Hathorn  had  not  "blabbed,"  for 
Potter  gaily  said:  "I  don't  blame  you  for  keeping 
out  of  business.  Lucky  dog  that  you  are — Hathorn 
has  got  a  first-class  man,  Renard  Wolfe,  to  go  in  as 
active,  and  I  relapse  into  a  special  partner — but  we 
would  have  sooner  had  you. ' ' 

When  Vreeland  hastened  back  to  Lakemere,  in 
answer  to  a  laconic  dispatch,  "Come  up  at  once,'1  he 
knew  of  the  increasing  bitterness  of  the  impending 
war.  Mrs.  Willoughby,  riding  through  Pine  Street, 
had  given  her  one-time  protege"  Hathorn  the  dead 
cut,  before  a  dozen  magnates  of  Wall  and  Broad,  to 
their  open-eyed  amazement. 

Every  broker  on  the  Street  was  now  eager  to  snap 
up  "the  Willoughby  *s"  business,  and  Mr.  James 
Potter,  abstracting  a  "Gaiety  Girl"  from  an  inchoate 
visiting  troupe,  had  hastily  set  sail  for  "Swat,"  via 
the  Suez  canal,  with  a  little  partie  carrte  to  avoid  a 
storm  of  queries — couched  with  "Say,  old  fellow,  what 
the  old  Harry's  all  this  rumpus  between  the  Hathorns 
and  your  'star'  customer?" 

The  placid  Potter,  far  out  beyond  Fire  Island, 
delightedly  left  the  "high  contracting  parties"  to 
fight  it  out  between  them,  a  la  mode  de  Kilkenny. 

And,  the  wonder  grew  as  the  golden  letters 
"Hathorn,  Wolfe  &  Co."  soon  took  the  place  of  the 
conquering  device,  "Hathorn  &  Potter,"  over  the 
door  of  the  booth  in  Mammon's  mart  where  Elaine 
Willoughby 's  helping  hand  had  built  up  the  fortune 
of  the  ingrate  protege". 

The  handsome  Vreeland  was  light-hearted  as  he 
approached  Lakemere,  for  he  was  pondering  over  a 
letter  of  special  invitation  received  to  a  diner  de 
ctremonie  to  emphasize  the  reopening  of  Mrs.  Alida 


IN  THE  SWIM.  79 

Hathorn's  superb  Fifth  Avenue  mansion,  a  patrimonial 
hereditament  gloriously  embourgeoned  for  that  win 
ter  social  campaign  in  which  Mrs.  Alida  proposed  to 
crush  "that  woman  Willoughby. " 

The  young  matron  had  taken  the  bit  between  her 
teeth  and  was  boldly  rallying  all  her  clans,  with  a 
fine  social  programme  adapted  to  both  attract  the 
"outer  woman,"  and  charm  the  "inner  man." 

Vreeland's  courteous  declination  of  the  dinner  on 
the  ground  of  "his  impending  departure,"  had  caused 
Mrs.  Alida  to  dispatch  the  energetic  Mrs.  Volney 
McMorris  to  glean  from  Vreeland,  in  an  artfully  con 
trived  "chance  interview"  at  the  Waldorf,  all  these 
details  of  the  sudden  estrangement  which  the  bride 
of  a  few  months  could  not  extract  from  the  morose 
Hathorn. 

But,  always  sedate  and  sly,  Vreeland  brought  all 
his  batteries  to  bear  on  the  double-faced  Madame 
Janus,  who  had  already  earned  a  diamond  bracelet  by 
her  Vidocq  operations  from  Hathorn's  reckless  wife. 

The  "McMorris  Investigating  Committee"  was  a 
flat  failure.  Vreeland  —  a  glib  liar  —  "voiced  his 
yearning' '  for  London  and  its  extensive  jungles  replete 
with  the  social  lion,  alive  or  stuffed. 

He  gracefully  glided  out  of  the  buxom  gossip's 
snares  and  bore  off  a  full  account  of  Alida  Hathorn's 
plans,  and  a  true  relation  of  that  encounter  in  the 
leafy  mazes  of  Central  Park,  where  the  watchful  Mrs. 
Elaine  Willoughby,  from  the  citadel  of  her  victoria, 
froze  the  beautiful  Mrs.  Hathorn  with  a  pointed 
ignoring  of  the  woman  whose  "wedding  dinner"  had 
been  the  vaunt  of  Lakemere. 

The  fortuitous  presence  of  Senator  David  Alynton, 
with  his  secret  partner,  the  Queen  of  the  Street — the 

6 


80  IN  THE  SWIM. 

astonishment  of  that  lovely  blonde  patrician,  Mrs. 
Mansard  Larue,  the  companion  of  Hathorn's  impru 
dent  wife,  had  given  the  news  of  the  "incident"  to  all 
the  gentlewomen  in  Gotham,  as  well  as  to  clubdom. 

Messrs.  Merriman,  Wiltshire  and  Rutherstone,  in  a 
noisy  cabal  at  the  Old  York  Club,  waylaid  every 
"good  knight  and  true,"  until,  when  their  discussion 
had  reached  its  height,  the  accidental  incoming  of 
Hathorn  brought  about  a  strained  and  solemn  hush, 
in  which  "the  beating  of  their  own  hearts  was  all 
the  sound  they  heard. ' ' 

With  a  whitening  face,  Hathorn  sped  away  to  the 
Fifth  Avenue  fortress  of  the  VanSittart  tribe,  to  angrily 
demand,  "What  new  tomfoolery  is  on  the  tapis?" 
while  the  three  young  buzzards  of  the  club  spread  the 
news  that  "the  battle  is  on — once  more — "  and  then, 
gaily  whetted  their  youthful  beaks  accordingly  upon 
the  succulent  elephantine  tips  of  their  "sticks." 

Eager  leopards  of  the  "society  journals"  lurking  in 
that  dim  penumbra  between  "the  high  tin  gods"  and 
the  "toilers  of  New  York, "  seized  upon  the  garbled 
details  and,  with  rending  sarcasm,  and  thinly  var 
nished  innuendo,  hinted  that  the  "first  blood  and 
knock-down"  of  this  finish  fight  were  to  be  credited  to 
that  remarkably  knowing  matron,  Madame  Elaine 
Willoughby,  of  Lakemere. 

"It  has  gone  on  too  far  ever  to  be  healed,  this  breach 
between  the  sundered  hearts,"  delightedly  decided 
the  buoyant  Vreeland,  as  he  stepped  out  of  the  train 
at  Irvington.  "All  I  have  to  do  now,  is  not  to  cross 
my  own  luck. ' ' 

He  was  startled  as, when  about  to  enter  the  wagon 
ette,  a  village  lad  on  watch  shyly  bade  him  walk  into 
the  ladies'  waiting  room,  where  the  adroit  Justine 


IN  THE  SWIM.  8 1 

was  waiting  for  him  with  tidings  of  moment.  Mr. 
Harold  Vreeland  had  won  the  caoutchouc  heart  of  the 
piercing-eyed  French  soubrette  by  his  golden  largesse. 
He  had  learned  the  importance  of  "parting  freely" 
when  it  was  to  his  profit,  and  several  hundred  dollars 
of  Jimmy  Potter's  poker  money  had  already  enlarged 
the  growing  hoard  with  which  Justine  proposed  to  buy 
a  neat  cabaret  in  Paris  and  set  up  a  bull-throated 
gamin  whom  she  resolutely  adored. 

"Be  on  your  guard!"  Justine  whispered.  "Mr. 
Hathorn  has  just  now  tried  to  bribe  me  to  watch 
you  and  Mrs.  Willoug'hby.  He  has  tormented  Doctor 
Hugo  Alberg,  also.  The  Doctor  is  my  friend," 
modestly  admitted  Justine,  with  the  deference  of 
dropped  eyes  to  her  imperiled  "character." 

"I  have  been  down  at  New  York  arranging  the 
'Circassia'  for  our  home-coming.  Hathorn  has 
offered  Doctor  Alberg  anything  to  bring  him  once 
more  accidentally  into  Mrs.  Willoughby's  presence. 

"He  came  up  yesterday  to  Lakemere — and  yet 
Madame  absolutely  declined  to  see  him,  and  so  she 
returned  his  card.  And,  to  the  old  lawyer,  ce  brav 
'vieux  Endicott,  he,  too,  has  made  the  call  —  'to 
demand  a  hearing' — as  an  old  friend. 

"I  heard  Madame  and  the  Judge  talking.  And 
now — to-day — there  are  the  Senator,  the  journalist, 
Monsieur  Conyers,  and  the  Judge  Endicott  all  day 
in  the  library  with  Madame.  So,  mon  ami,  beware!" 

The  fifty-dollar  bill  which  Vreeland  pressed  into  her 
hand  was  an  inspirational  piece  of  good  judgment, 
and  Gallic  prayers  from  a  too-inflammable  heart  fol 
lowed  him  as  he  darted  away  to  the  wagonette. 

"I  will  back  the  Queen  of  Hearts  to  win!"  mused 
the  vigilant  Vreeland,  as  he  arranged  his  "society 
6 


82  IN  THE  SWIM. 

face"  for  that  watchful  and  nonchalant  repose  which 
totally  disarmed  the  three  men  whom  he  met  at 
dinner. 

There  was  not  an  awkward  undercurrent  of  import 
to  the  evening  in  which  Harold  Vreeland,  forewarned 
and  forearmed,  knew  that  he  was  always  "under  fire" 
— that  greatest  test  of  nerve — simply  bidden  to  "stand 
fast  and  wait  for  orders. ' ' 

He  watched  the  "casement's  glimmering  square" 
long  after  the  house  was  still,  slowly  revolving  his 
crafty  plans,  and  as  yet  ignorant  of  the  day's  secret 
council  so  vital  to  his  future  career. 

He  knew  not  of  the  sympathetic  silence  of  Conyers, 
his  fine  intellectual  face  hidden  in  a  window's  shadow, 
while  Endicott  had  frankly  related  all  that  he  had 
known  unfavorable  of  the  late  Erastus  Vreeland, 
Attorney  and  Counselor  at  Law,  Solicitor  in  Equity, 
and  Proctor  in  Admiralty. 

Senator  David  Alynton,  remembering  that  the 
owners  of  the  "Clarion"  also  owned  a  good-sized 
block  of  "Sugar,"  and  were  the  secret  press  agents  of 
the  Trust,  tried  earnestly  to  obtain  an  opinion  from 
the  taciturn  Conyers.  "I  know  nothing  whatever  of 
this  man,"  gallantly  answered  the  writer.  "This 
thing  seems  to  me  to  be  like  a  marriage — in  which 
the  seal  of  the  bond  goes  on  before  anything  definite 
is  known  of  the  parties'  real  character. ' ' 

The  formation  of  a  new  firm  to  handle  the  business 
lost  by  Hathorn's  sudden  and  egoistic  plunge  into 
matrimony  was  the  matter  under  discussion. 

"It  seems  to  me,  Madame,"  said  the  sagacious 
Alynton,  "that  if  you  intend  to  put  this  young  man 
into  such  a  place  of  grave  trust,  there  should  be 
another  partner,  provided,  one  acceptable  to  our  side, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  83 

and — if  possible — one  known  to  me.  And  we  must 
not,  moreover,  have  a  mere  tyro.  I  should  like  to 
approve  one  name  in  the  new  firm — if  you  select  the 
other." 

"Be  it  so,"  gravely  said  the  Lady  of  Lakemere. 
"I  will  only  say  for  Mr.  Vreeland,  that  I  know  all 
of  the  secrets  of  the  life  of  his  late  unfortunate 
father,  and  of  the  son's  manly  actions  in  closing  up  all 
his  father's  scattered  affairs.  I  will  back  him  with  all 
the  money  needed,  and,  also,  guarantee  his  good 
faith,  provided  he  alone  controls  such  'private  busi 
ness'  as  is  handled  through  me.  Judge  Endicott  has 
told  me  nothing  new  of  the  elder  Vreeland.  I  think 
I  can  suggest  a  plan  to  find  the  other  man  whom  we 
want,  or  else  a  firm  already  in  existence,  which  will 
commend  itself  to  you,  Senator.  Let  us  advertise, 
guardedly,  for  a  partner." 

With  a  sigh,  Hiram  Endicott  drew  Conyers  out  of 
the  room,  and  while  Senator  Alynton  yielded  to  the 
dark-eyed  lady's  most  ingenious  plan,  the  old  lawyer, 
under  the  trees,  dejectedly  said,  "Conyers!  there  is 
again  the  woman  enigma!  A  woman  with  heart  cer 
tainly  needs  no  head.  And — a  woman  with  a  head 
should  be  heartless. 

"The  one  can  only  be  happy  in  being  deluded,  it 
seems — and  the  other  can  be  properly  left  to  coldly  play 
the  game  of  life  in  safety — and  then  smile  at  her  dupes. 
This  dear  woman,  unfortunately,  has  both  head  and 
heart,  and  so,  she  must  suffer. 

"This  young  fellow's  fine  eyes  have  done  the  business 
— his  mellow,  pleading  voice  carries  the  day.  To  be 
first  favorite  —  vice  Hathorn,  discharged  —  Vreeland, 
promoted  from  the  ranks!" 

While    Senator   David  Alynton,  a  cool,  gray-eyed 


84  IN  THE  SWIM. 

young  millionaire  wearer  of  the  toga,  a  senator  a  la 
mode,  listened  to  Elaine  Willoughby's  earnest  argu 
ments,  he  forgot  that  he  was  but  forty  years  of  age. 

Though  he  was  often  an  official  listener  to  secrets 
in  the  marble  capitol  which  might  make  or  break  the 
future  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  he  was  also  a  raffine,  man 
of  the  modern  world — a  luxury-lover — fond  of  money, 
and  of  its  concrete  power. 

He  knew,  too  well,  that  Elaine  Willoughby  was 
"game"  to  back  her  own  candidate  with  a  fortune  as 
great  as  his  own. 

He  felt  that  the  past  safe  connection  with  Hathorn 
and  Potter  was  broken  for  all  time.  He  saw  that  the 
secret  chief  of  the  vast  Syndicate  blindly  trusted  the 
Queen  of  the  Street,  and,  moreover,  he  was  a  man 
who  was  unable  to  resist  the  warm,  womanly  nature 
which  drew  him  as  the  moon  draws  the  seas. 

"If  you  will  personally  watch  over  yoiir  young 
neophyte,  Lady  Mine,"  he  said,  at  last,  "I  will  side 
with  you.  Your  interests  are  mine.  I  hope  that  you 
do  not  forget  what  we  both  have  to  lose."  The 
Senator  was  mindful  of  the  sanctity  of  his  "toga," 
now. 

With  softly  shining  eyes,  she  thanked  him.  "After 
all, ' '  she  laughed,  her  bosom  heaving  with  the  pride 
of  victory,  "you  and  I  are  the  only  real  parties  in 
interest  here.  We  will  let  Endicott  receive  all  the 
answers,  and  dear  old  Hugh  Conyers  can  closely 
examine  the  whole  record  of  the  man  whom  we  select 
as  working  partner. 

"Between  Vreeland  and  myself,  the  line  of  com 
munication  to  you  shall  be  guarded.  As  of  old,  Judge 
Endicott  shall  act  for  me — and  I  will  alone  handle 
all  that  concerns  you.  Even  Vreeland  shall  never 


IN  THE  SWIM.  85 

know  —  there's  my  hand  on  it.  You  know  that 
Hathorn  has  always  been  secretly  kept  "in  the  dark" 
— against  the  day  of  his  turning  —  like  the  fabled 
worm.  You  are  safe  as  regards  him — while  I — " 

She  sighed,  and  left  the  man  who  was  the  "missing 
link"  in  the  great  scheme  of  active  operations,  won 
dering  if  she  '  had  ever  really  loved  Hathorn.  The 
young  Senator  was  unconsciously  grimly  jealous. 

"Damned  little  snob!"  wrathfully  cried  the  Senator. 
"I  hope  that  purse-proud  young  minx  of  a  wife  will 
make  his  life  a  hell.  I  fancy  that  she  can  be  trusted 
to  do  that."  It  was  Alynton's  just  idea  of  Nemesis. 

The  Senator  had  gone  back  to  the  Capital  next  morn 
ing  with  a  parting  pledge  to  make  a  flying  visit  to 
the  "Circassia"  in  two  weeks  to  settle  the  vital  matter 
on  Mrs.  Willoughby's  winter  hegira  to  New  York, 
and  the  active  lawyer  and  the  busy  journalist  had  also 
fled  back  to  Gotham  before  Elaine  Willoughby  in  the 
summer  home  had  listened  to  all  of  Harold  Vreeland's 
accurate  relation. 

"I  can  not  afford  to  tell  her  the  whole  truth — as 
yet!"  he  had  rightly  decided,  and  he  wisely  abstained 
from  adding  a  shade  of  color.  For  she  was  watching 
him  keenly.  It  was  the  turning  tide  of  his  life'. 

"You  are  my  own  true  knight,"  she  gaily  said,  with 
an  assumed  lightness.  "I  wish  you  to  ignore  this 
coming  social  battle  entirely.  You  are  to  be  strictly 
non-committal.  I  will  deal  with  both  the  Hathorns. 
Read  that. ' '  She  handed  him  a  paper.  ' '  In  this  way 
we  will  receive  tenders  from  perhaps  fifty  individuals, 
and  even  from  some  good  firms  already  established. 

"I  will  myself,  handle  the  secret  side  of  the  opera 
tions,  and  Judge  Endicott  will  guide  you  in  my 
general  business.  When  we  have  found  the  right  man 


86  IN  THE  SWIM. 

as  a  partner,  our  whole  party  will  examine  his  past 
through  the  various  mercantile  agencies,  surety  com 
panies,  business  detectives,  and  then,  Endicott  and 
Conyers,  too,  can  throw  on  the  searchlight. 

"The  new  firm  will  go  ahead — I  can  answer  for  that 
— and  I  will  then  be  free  to  openly  meet  Mrs.  Alida 
Hathorn,  on  her  chosen  battle  ground  of  Vanity 
Fair. 

"You  are  to  do  nothing  but  to  simply  wait  at  the 
Waldorf — and  come  to  me  daily  at  the  'Circassia. ' 

"As  for  Hathorn — a  strict  avoidance  of  him — that  is 
my  one  condition. ' ' 

"The  quarrel — but — the  cold  oblivion  of  the  grave! 
Your  friendship  is  dead  to  him!" 

"And — you  are  never  to  mention  their  names  in 
society.  Leave  them  to  me. ' ' 

"I  swear  it — by  this,"  solemnly  said  Vreeland,  as  he 
kissed  the  knot  of  ribbon  blue.  The  glistening-eyed 
woman  saw  that  it  had  lain  on  his  heart. 

She  rose  and  left  him  to  study  the  strange  public  call 
for  a  collaborator  in  that  fierce  fight  for  "the  un 
earned  increment"  which  was  to  make  his  fortune — 
by  a  woman's  fondly  trusted  faith. 

He  read  an  advertisement  which  made  a  huge 
increase  a  week  later  in  Hiram  Endicott's  daily  mail. 
For  the  Herald,  in  special  display,  in  its  financial 
page,  printed  the  following — in  an  artful  display: 

"To  Capitalists  and  Stock  Brokers." 

^Wanted. — A  gentleman  of  the  highest  integrity, 
who  controls  one  of  the  largest  speculative  stock  busi 
nesses  in  and  around  New  York  City,  desires  to  meet 
an  associate  with  $200,000  cash,  with  view  of  estab 
lishing  New  York  Stock  Exchange  house,  or  would 


IN  THE  SWIM.  87 

make  partnership  arrangement  with  a  New  York 
Stock  Exchange  firm  who  desire  to  increase  their 
business.  References  given  and  required.  Princi 
pals  only.  Address,  for  one  week, 

"H.  E.,  Herald  Downtown." 

Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby  had  been  a  month  en 
trenched  in  her  apartments  at  the  "Circassia,"  and 
the  last  summer  roses  had  drifted  down  over  the 
silent  walks  of  Lakemere,  before  the  astute  Vreeland 
had  made  a  surface  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Horton 
Wyman,  whose  name  later  headed  the  sober-looking 
black  and  gold  sign  on  a  spacious  Broad  Street  office, 
reading,  "Wyman  &  Vreeland,  Bankers  and  Brokers!" 
For  the  new  firm  had  been  bravely  launched  by 
Alynton  and  his  lovely  ally. 

All  that  Vreeland  knew  was  that  Mr.  Horton 
Wyman  was  a  near  relative  of  Senator  David  Alynton, 
and  that  he  had  just  given  up  the  cashiership  of  a 
respectable  bank  to  enter  the  New  York  Stock  Ex 
change. 

The  adventurer,  lost  in  admiration  of  Elaine  Wil- 
loughby's  executive  ability,  never  knew  of  that  t$te-a- 
tete  dinner,  and  the  long  council  of  the  Queen  of  the 
Street  with  Alynton  and  Judge  Endicott. 

Out  of  fifty  applications,  Mr.  Horton  Wyman  had 
been  selected.  As  Senator  Alynton  pithily  said,  "It's 
my  man  and  my  money  against  your  man  and  your 
money."  The  Senator  himself  had  answered  the 
call  for  his  relative. 

He  did  know  that  Judge  Endicott' s  nephew,  Noel, 
was  the  cashier  of  the  new  firm,  now  in  full  blast,  and 
that  he  alone  received  the  orders  of  the  Queen  of  the 
Street  from  the  private  wires  in  the  Hanover  Bank 
Building. 


88  IN  THE  SWIM. 

And  he  knew,  too,  that  Mr.  Frederick  Hathorn's 
office  boasted  no  longer  the  "inside  tip"  on  Sugar  from 
the  woman  who  was  carrying  a  social  war  "into 
Africa' '  and  had  already  staggered  even  the  audacious 
Mrs.  Alida. 

The  checks  of  the  new  firm  on  the  "Chemical 
Bank"  were  already  recognized  as  those  of  people 
"who  could  swing  the  Street,"  and  some  daring 
"deals"  had  opened  the  game. 

It  was  Vreeland's  duty  to  confer  once  daily  with  his 
strangely-found  benefactress,  and  yet,  he  felt  even 
now  that  he  was  but  half  within  the  door. 

But  one  bitter  hatred  followed  his  rising  star,  and  he 
soon  heard  the  sneer  of  Frederick  Hathorn:  "So  he 
lied  to  me,  and  has  sneaked  into  business  behind  a 
woman's  petticoats. 

"Wait!  Set  a  beggar  on  horseback — he  will  ride  to 
the  devil."  For  all  that,  "they  never  spoke  as  they 
passed  by. ' '  The  war  was  now  on  in  earnest. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  89 


CHAPTER  V. 
TOWARD  THE  ZENITH. 

It  had  been  the  one  haunting  dream  of  Harold 
Vfeeland's  fevered  young  manhood  to  finally  reach  a 
financial  position  wherein  "the  solid  ground"  would 
not  fail  beneath  his  feet.  Before  the  Christmas 
snows  had  whitened  the  roofs  of  old  Trinity  his  star 
was  crawling  surely  toward  its  zenith.  He  was, 
figuratively  speaking,  "on  velvet." 

Though  he  realized  the  cogent  truth  of  Jimmy 
Potter's  maxim  that  the  desire  of  one's  heart  would 
always  finally  come  around  to  the  patient  man,  he  was 
yet  filled  with  a  vague  uneasiness.  He  was  entrenched 
at  the  Waldorf  en  permanence,  and  his  personal  bank 
account  had  reached  the  snug  sum  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars. 

The  status  which  he  held  in  the  firm  was  that  of  the 
office  partner,  and  he  was  also  authorized  to  draw  one 
thousand  dollars  per  month.  ' '  If  you  need  anything 
else,  apply  to  me  directly,"  was  Mrs.  Willoughby's 
quiet  order.  Anxious  not  to  show  even  the  faintest 
eagerness,  he  was  passively  contented,  allowing  his 
patroness  to  make  the  game.  And  yet  he  always 
watched  her,  lynx-eyed. 

"My  duties,"  he  had  simply  demanded. 

"You  are  for  the  present  to  confer  alone  with  Mr. 
Wyman,"  answered  Elaine.  "The  books  and  cash 
will  be  in  the  sole  keeping  of  young  Noel  Endicott. 
I  may  say  that  he  alone  will  sign  the  firm's  checks 


90  IN  THE  SWIM. 

and  the  balance  sheets  will  be  privately  rendered 
by  him  to  Judge  Endicott,  who  represents  me,  as 
well  as  the  power  behind  your  new  associate,  Mr. 
Wyman. 

"You  are  to  carry  on  the  current  business  in  agree 
ment  with  Wyman.  Both  of  you  will  have  access  to 
all  the  customers'  ledgers,  but  the  conditions  of  your 
continuance  as  a  broker  is  that  only  a  strictly 
'  commission  business '  shall  be  carried  on.  And, 
above  all  things,  silence  and  discretion." 

."In  other  words,"  slowly  said  Vreeland,  "Judge 
Endicott  is  really  the  responsible  holder  of  the  firm's 
assets." 

"Precisely  so,"  smiled  Elaine.  "His  only  nephew 
is  the  cashier  and  the  head  bookkeeper  has  been 
named  by  the  other  principal." 

"Am  I  to  confer  as  to  details  with  Judge  Endicott?" 
was  Vreeland' s  last  query. 

"Only  with  me,"  she  smiled.  "You  are  to  be  my 
own  knight,  and  I  lay  this  last  injunction  on  you: 
Business  is  never  to  be  mentioned  to  me  save  in  our 
daily  interview  of  affairs.  My  social  hours  are 
sacred."  He  bowed  and  smiled. 

"If  anything  of  moment  should  occur,"  he  mur 
mured. 

"You  will  be  held  harmless,"  she  smiled.  "Obey 
orders,  if  you  break  owners. ' ' 

Perfectly  conscious  that  Hathorn  would  probably 
spy  upon  him,  fearful  of  over-reaching  himself  by 
any  rash  hurry,  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  assiduously 
delved  into  all  the  daily  business  details  and  carefully 
refrained  from  urging  on  the  growing  social  intimacy 
with  his  patroness. 

Horton    Wyman    and    Noel    Endicott    were    both 


IN  THE  SWIM.  91 

University  Club  men ;  the  last,  a  stalwart  son  of  Eli, 
was  a  survival  of  the  fittest  from  the  shock  of  football 
and  the  straining  oar. 

The  cool  head  bookkeeper,  Aubrey  Maitland,  was 
Wyman's  daily  luncheon  companion,  and  young  Noel 
Endicott  always  fled  away  at  noon  hour  to  the  Judge's 
office,  where  the  oak  was  sported. 

It  was  only  in  their  regularly  exchanged  uptown 
social  courtesies  that  Vreeland  was  enabled  to  study 
his  partner. 

It  was,  after  all,  of  very  little  moment  to  him,  for 
they  both  seemed  to  be  "personally  conducted"  by 
that  silvered-haired  old  solon,  Hiram  Endicott.  Their 
way  was  made  very  smooth. 

"It's  a  very  strange  situation,"  mused  Vreeland. 
"I  am  a  sort  of  Ishmael — playing  my  hand  against 
every  man's.  They  all  think  to  find  me  soon  growing 
uneasy  and  squirming  around  in  curiosity. 

"  'Time  and  I  against  the  whole  world,'  said  Wil 
liam  the  Silent,  It's  a  good  motto,  and  I  will  let 
them  make  the  whole  game.  But,  by  and  by,  I  will  get 
behind  the  scenes,  and  then 'shove  the  clouds  along.'  " 

With  a  rare  self-control,  he  continued  his  judicious 
self-effacing  policy,  and  yet  slyly  watched  the  impar 
tial  welcome  extended  by  Elaine  Willoughby  to  the 
stream  of  notable  and  desirable  men  who  thronged 
her  hospitable  halls. 

The  preliminary  skirmishes  of  the  coming  battle 
with  the  Hathorns  had  vastly  amused  him,  and  "all 
society"  knew  now  of  the  impassive  prudence  of  the 
rising  star.  It  had  been  Elaine  Willoughby 's  one  fault 
that  her  strong  nature  leaned  little  on  other  women. 
For  her  strong  nature  buoyed  her  up  above  the 
petted  society  dolls  around  her. 


92  IN  THE  SWIM. 

She  knew  that  they  were  barren  Sahara  deserts  to 
her;  she  was  perfectly  conscious  of  the  absolute  dearth 
of  interest  in  woman  natures  for  each  other.  The  few 
respectable  "relicts"  who  sought  her  bounty  were 
always  ranged  near  her,  like  old  battleships  on  the 
shores  of  Time,  honorably  scarred,  but  "out  of  com 
mission"  and,  unfit  for  action.  Their  mild  incense  of 
perfunctory  flattery  was  but  a  prelude  to  the  confes 
sion  of  their  thousand  little  wants.  And  to  them,  she 
played  the  Lady  Bountiful. 

But  Vreeland  honestly,  yet  silently,  gloried  in 
Elaine  Willoughby's  brilliant  early  winter  social 
campaign. 

A  lovely  Napoleon,  she  rallied  her  hosts  in  a 
changed  strategy  of  audacious  energy;  she  chose  her 
own  battle-grounds  and  vastly  outnumbered  her 
enemy  at  every  point  of  concentration.  It  was 
a  war  to  the  knife. 

Through  unknown  agents,  the  Lady  of  Lakemere 
had  deftly  captured  the  best  box  in  the  Horse  Show, 
and  eke  the  same  in  the  Canine  Exposition.  She 
had  ensnared  the  one  most  eligible  Opera  box  upon 
which  Mrs.  Alida  Hathorn  doted,  and  then,  drawing 
to  her  splendid  halls  the  most  desirable  men  to  battle 
over,  Mrs.  Willoughby  easily  attracted  a  crowd  of 
bright-eyed  beauties  there  ready  to  struggle  for 
their  selected  "eligibles,"  "notables,"  and  desirables. 
There  was  music  and  laughter,  the  gleam  of  tender 
eyes,  the  sheen  of  white  shoulders,  the  glow  of  ivory 
bosoms,  and  all  the  magnetic  thrill  of  rich  young 
womanhood  pervading  the  Circassia. 

It  was  no  secret  that  a  house  party  of  forty  would 
keep  a  "merry  Christmas"  at  Lakemere,  and,  all  in 
vain,  did  Alida  Hathorn  strive  to  secure  the  most 


IN  THE  SWIM.  93 

sparkling  pendants  of  the  "inner  fringe"  for  the 
widely  thrown  open  doors  of  Oakwood.  Her  Indian 
summer  antagonist  was  an  easy  victor. 

Some  merry,  aiidacious  devil  seemed  to  have  roused 
himself  in  Elaine  Willoughby's  bosom,  and  she  was 
boldly  lancte  now.  Knowing  well  what  a  woman's 
war  to  the  finish  means,  the  sly  Elaine  drew  off  with 
her  varied  and  sumptuous  entertainments  all  the 
desirable  men  and  Beauty's  beautiful  Cossacks  soon 
swooped  down  upon  them. 

Only  Vreeland  could  trace  Senator  Alynton's  influ 
ence  in  the  vastly  enlarged  glittering  circle  of  foreign 
diplomats  and  well  accredited  European  visitors  of 
rank. 

The  Army  and  Navy  gallantly  charged  upon  the 
battalions  of  Mother  Eve's  fairest  forlorn  hope,  and 
humble  but  effective  ammunition — the  canvas-back 
duck,  the  terrapin  of  our  beloved  land,  choicest  wines, 
chilled  and  warmed  in  the  right  order — did  all  the 
execution  possible. 

The  delicately  ordered  beaufets  were  a  "continuous 
performance"  to  a  star  engagement. 

And,  by  a  rare  self-command,  the  warring  woman 
with  difficulty  refrained  from  all  open  attacks  upon 
the  Hathorns,  but  yet  deftly  drawing  the  "financial 
swells"  to  her  side  by  the  generally  accepted  con 
clusion  that  there  had  been  something  wrong  with 
Hathorn  &  Potter. 

No  one  suspected  the  genial  James  of  intermeddling. 
He  had  reached  no  further  point  in  his  voyage  to 
Samarcand,  or  Swat,  than  gay  Villefranche. 

On  his  cozy  yacht,  the  guileless  Potter  learned  that 
Miss  Dickie  Doubleday,  who  had  returned  all  of  his 
"burning  letters,"  but,  none  of  the  sparkling  votive 


94  IN  THE  SWIM. 

diamonds,  had  dashingly  captured  and  cut  out  a 
Western  mining  man  of  untold  millions  who  guile 
lessly  had  drifted  under  her  guns  from  a  ' '  star' '  of  the 
Metropolitan  opera.  And,  the  festive  Miss  Dickie  was 
now  in  the  seventh  heaven. 

The  gay  Eastern  Elijah  was  overjoyed  to  see  his 
rosy  mantle  descend  upon  the  Occidental  Elisha,  and 
he  cautiously  confided  to  his  deported  "Gaiety  Girl" 
the  opinion  that  the  "sun-burned  buffalo  of  Butte 
would  find  out  a  lot  of  things  before  spring."  They 
drank  the  health  of  the  faithless  Dickie  Doubleday  in 
much  champagne  of  rosy  tint,  as  the  white  stars 
shimmered  around  them  on  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean.  And  so,  the  "honors  were  easy"  in 
this  little  game  of  hearts. 

In  vain  did  many  friendly  financiers  urge  Jimmy 
Potter's  return  by  the  often  cabled  news  that  "  Hat- 
horn  was  making  a  fool  of  himself  in  Wall  Street. ' ' 

"That's  his  own  lookout,"  calmly  replied  the 
special  partner,  who  rightly  feared  that  the  chasm 
between  him  and  the  all  too  amiable  Dickie  Doubleday 
was  not  yet  quite  deep  enough  for  safety. 

"By  Jove!  that  girl  is  capable  of  running  a  tan 
dem,"  he  reflected,  and,  he  had  no  desire  to  be 
hitched  up  later,  even  in  silken  harness,  with  the 
robust  "brown  buffalo  of  Butte. "  For  he  had  drawn 
a  "queen"  in  the  last  deal. 

He  would  have  quickly  turned  the  prow  of  the 
"Aphrodite"  homeward,  however,  if  he  had  known  of 
a  strong-hearted  woman's  resolute  determination  to 
run  the  firm  of  Hathorn,  Wolfe  &  Co.  ashore,  and  to 
sink  it  under  the  guns  of  the  unsuspected  enemy 
which  was  now  "swinging  the  Street." 

And  as  artful  a  game  as  Delilah  ever  "put  up"  for 


IN  THE  SWIM.  95 

Samson,  was  one  element  of  Mrs.  Willoughby's  cam 
paign,  for  she  was  now  "fighting  all  along  the  line." 

The  watchful  Harold  Vreeland  was  soon  made 
conscious  that  he  was  an  object  of  general  interest 
even  in  the  cold-hearted  hurry  of  Manhattan.  He 
knew  that  he  penetrated  three  varying  atmospheres  in 
his  daily  life. 

The  society  racket,  the  dress  parade  of  the  Waldorf 
and  the  clubs,  was  one  phase  of  his  busy  existence ;  the 
shaded  dignities  of  his  Broad  Street  office  another,  and 
he  was  now  assured  that  an  invisible  halo  of  assiduous 
espionage  now  followed  him  in  his  down-sittings  and 
uprisings. 

There  was  the  maddened  Hathorn,  the  inscrutable 
Elaine  Willoughby,  and  his  cautious  and  silent 
partner,  Horton  Wyman. 

"I'm  pretty  well  followed  up!"  he  smiled,  with  a 
cunning  glee. 

Continually  on  giiard  in  society,  and  ever  straining 
all  his  mental  powers  to  familiarize  himself  with  all 
the  details  of  their  growing  business  and  the  unwritten 
lore  of  the  feverish  Street,  Vreeland  was  really  only 
uneasy  at  heart  as  to  his  continued  probation. 

For  he  felt  now,  as  the  holiday  season  approached, 
that  he  was  merely  being  hoodwinked  by  the  dark- 
eyed  benefactress,  whose  fullest  confidence  he  had  not 
as  yet  gained. 

"Madonna's"  social  manner  was  frankly  charming, 
but  he  had  made  no  progress  toward  any  further 
intimacy.  Some  shade  seemed  to  hold  them  tenderly 
apart.  And  he  racked  his  brains  in  vain. 

"Ami  intime  de  la  matson/"  He  had  only  learned 
more  of  her  rare  dignity  in  the  repeated  business 

interviews,  and  in    the    continued   tableaux    of    her 
7 


96  IN  THE  SWIM. 

splendid  social  entourage,  lie  was  no  nearer  to  her 
than  others. 

There  was  the  cool  Conyers,  who  always  came  and 
went  at  will ;  he  had  also  seen  Senator  David  Alynton 
and  the  silent  Wyman  out  driving  with  his  lovely 
patroness.  There  were  also  t$te-a-t£te  dinners,  too, 
with  the  old  Judge  and  that  young  son  of  Anak,  Noel 
Endicott,  and  moreover  the  well-bribed  Justine 
spoke,  too,  of  breakfasts  where  only  Wyman  and  the 
handsome  bookkeeper,  Aubrey  Maitland,  were  guests. 
A II  this  was  dangerous. 

"Hang  me  if  I  can  see  why  I  am  kept  here," 
uneasily  fretted  Vreeland.  "The  firm  would  move 
along  just  as  smoothly  without  me,"  but  yet  in  his 
soul  he  felt  that  the  steadfast  woman  still  held  him  in 
reserve  for  some  well-matured  purpose  of  her  own. 

With  admirable  sang  froid  he  awaited  her  orders 
in  an  expectant  silence. 

"She  shall  not  weary  me  out;  but  once  let  the 
cards  come  my  way,  then  I  will  play  the  queen  for  all 
she  is  worth. ' ' 

He  knew  in  the  drift  of  customers  gradually  drawn 
in  by  the  now  acknowledged  solidity  of  their  firm, 
that  there  were  many  spies  and  stool-pigeons  of  the 
angry  Hathorns. 

He  knew,  too,  what  cold  resentment  burned  in  his 
old  chum's  heart.  He  had  secretly  followed  (through 
his  agents)  some  of  these  skirmishers  directly  back  to 
Hathorn,  Wolfe  &  Co.'s  office.  And  the  cards  were 
played  both  from  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the  pack. 

Once  he  had  himself  caught  Hathorn's  eyes  follow 
ing  him  with  all  the  wolfish  glare  of  a  murderous 
heart. 

There    were,    besides,   rumors   of  quarrels  in   the 


IN  THE  SWIM.  97 

opposing  firm  and  the  early  retirement  of  the  return 
ing  Potter. 

And  other  sly  traps  were  laid  for  him  with  silky 
scoundrelism.  He  was  well  aware  that  the  defiant 
Alida  Hathorn  had  openly  expressed  her  utter  dis 
belief  in  the  existence  of  the  late  Wharton  Willoughby. 
Even  the  prehensile  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris  had 
waylaid  him  to  confess  that  she  had  never  observed, 
in  either  of  Mrs.  Willoughby's  establishments,  any 
mortuary  bust,  portrait,  or  even  an  humble  photo 
graph  of  the  permanently  eclipsed  man  who  had 
given  his  name  to  the  Queen  of  the  Street.  These 
things  were  food  for  uneasy  thoughts  harassing  to 
the  young  schemer. 

And  this  respectable  social  scavenger  had  faltered 
out  some  indirect  javelin  thrusts  evidently  pointed 
by  Hathorn 's  willfully  reckless  wife. 

There  were  at  least  two  men  in  Elaine  Willoughby's 
entourage  who,  for  gain  and  a  passion  under  the 
rose,  might  be  the  source  of  all  that  quietly-sustained 
splendor  which  had  so  enraged  the  young  married 
heiress. 

Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  was  on  guard.  He  only  fixed 
his  fine  eyes  upon  Mrs.  McMorris  in  a  pained  surprise 
when  that  bustling  dame  hinted  that  he  could  easily 
drag  forth  the  desired  information. 

"I  have  always  had  a  penchant,  my  dear  Madame, 
for  minding  my  own  business, ' '  was  his  most  prudent 
rejoinder. 

So,  entrenching  himself  in  the  towers  of  silence, 
he  was  safe,  but  Vreeland  also  left  a  bitter  enemy 
behind,  on  the  pleasant  afternoon  when  he  wondered 
why  Messrs.  Merriman,  Wiltshire,  and  Rutherstone 
had  bidden  him  "to  be  one  of  a  little  party  of  four" 
7 


9&  IN  THE  SWIM. 

at  the  Old  York  Club.  It  was  an  able  effort  at  scientific 
pumping. 

He  had  never  entered  that  gilded  fortress  of  the 
jeunesse  doree  since  his  last  definite  quarrel  with  Ha- 
thorn,  and  he  knew,  too,  that  these  three  "splendid 
examples  of  the  evolution  of  American  manhood" 
now  made  up  a  little  coterie  which  was  a  sort  of 
Three  Guardsmen  brotherhood  around  Mrs.  Alida 
Hathorn. 

There  were  rumors  of  gay  little  Sunday  afternoon 
frolics  at  the  Hathorns',  justifying  Pip's  exclama 
tion,  "Such  larks,"  and  these  three  young  fellows  now 
directed  the  broad-gauge  festivities  of  a  home  whose 
master  always  wore  a  stern  frown  like  the  late 
lamented"  Baron  Rudiger"  of  the  German  song. 

It  was  Harold  Vreeland's  chosen  part  to  be 
left  judiciously  uncompromised.  He  was  still  playing  a 
waiting  game.  He  knew  that  certain  very  degagde 
young  "married  women"  afforded  much  "congenial 
pabulum"  for  these  three  sleek  young  society  sharks, 
and  that  the  careless  Mrs.  Alida  Hathorn  was  fast 
drifting  into  their  hands. 

And  so,  after  a  long  stance,  wherein  floods  of  wine 
drenched  the  festal  board,  the  sly  adventurer  found 
out  at  last  the  motive  of  his  sudden  popularity. 

When  Rutherstone  brought  up  the  imlaid  ghost  of 
the  late  Wharton  Willoughby,  Vreeland  cynically 
remarked :  "I  naturally  know  nothing  of  local  social 
biography  here.  I  am  only  a  returned  borderer,  and 
am  only  engaged  in  making  a  proper  business 
use  of  my  capital.  I  stand  calmly  in  the  center  of 
your  New  York  circus  and  see  its  'free  show'  swing 
around. 

"My  platform  is  that  of  the  late  Simon  Cameron  of 


IN  THE  SWIM.  99 

blessed  memory,  'I  don't  care  a  damn  what  happens 
as  long-  as  it  does  not  happen  to  me.'  " 

"But,  the  lady  has  intimate  business  relations  with 
your  firm!"  babbled  Merriman. 

"Did  Fred  Hathorn  tell  you  so?"  cuttingly  sneered 
Vreeland.  "Perhaps  not,  as  you  fellows  are  only 
chummy  with  his  smart  wife.  Let  her  find  it  out 
for  herself,  by  a  personal  visit  to  the  lady  in  question. 

' '  You  might  ask  Wyman — he  knows  all  our  thousand 
customers'  affairs.  I  don't  bother  much  with  the 
business, ' '  loftily  remarked  Vreeland,  as  he  hummed 
an  old  music  hall  refrain,  "You  can  get  onto  an  omni 
bus,  but  you  can't  get  onto  me." 

He  cheerfully  departed,  leaving  his  hosts  to  "a 
night  of  memories  and  sighs."  He  was  followed 
with  curses  both  deep  and  loud. 

Vreeland  put  all  these  little  matters  lightly  away 
as  a  part  of  the  usual  "burrowing  mole"  work  of  New 
York  high  life;  but  he  was  really  astonished,  a 
week  later,  when  his  employer's  physician,  Dr.  Hugo 
Alberg,  haled  him  away  to  a  confidential  Sunday 
morning  breakfast. 

The  "German  specialist"  was  an  indurated  foreign 
egotist  of  thirty,  and  a  cunning  gleam  lingered 
behind  his  golden  glasses. 

His  fresh,  bewhiskered  face  was  slightly  Semitic  in 
its  cast,  and  his  record  of  prosperity  was  all  too  evi 
dent  in  that  richness  of  jewelry  which  has  been  a 
legacy  of  the  Biblical  times  when  the  Egyptians 
made  such  incautious  loans  of  their  ornaments. 

Harold  Vreeland  had  now  an  unwritten  chapter  in 
his  life  devoted  entirely  to  the  thirsty-hearted  Justine, 
and  from  that  subjugated  Gallic  beauty  he  knew  of 
all  Alberg' s  crafty  approaches  upon  the  mistress  by  a 


ioo  IN  THE  SWIM. 

coarsely  familiar  wooing  of  the  woman  who  had  given 
herself  over,  body  and  soul,  to  Vreeland's  service. 

And  so  he  marveled  not  that  in  the  cozy  private 
room  at  Martin's  the  Doctor's  slim,  white,  "sterilized" 
hand  reached  out  in  the  direction  of  a  secret  which 
Vreeland  himself  knew  naught  of. 

"I'll  just  let  this  fool  talk,"  mused  Vreeland,  as 
the  intriguing  foreigner  became  both  familiar  and 
friendly.  "He  has  his  own  little  scheme.  Perhaps 
he  may  point  me  toward  what  no  one  seems  to  know. ' ' 

And  so,  in  an  affected  bruderschaft,  the  would-be 
vampire  listened  with  a  beating  heart  to  Alberg's 
confidences  when  the  strong  Rhine  wine  had  loosened 
the  "Medical  Arzt's"  slightly  thickened  tongue. 

"We  ought  to  understand  each  other,  mein  leiber 
Vreeland,"  urged  the  Doctor,  who  had  now  thrown 
the  mask  off.  "You  and  I  are  the  two  men  nearest 
to  this  magnificent  woman.  You  are  her  confidential 
man  of  affairs. 

"You  know  all — you  must  know  all.  And  a  woman's 
best  friend  is  always  her  Doctor,"  he  grinned, with  a 
suggestive  pliancy. 

"We  are  necessary  to  each  other.  You  and  I  only 
want  what  all  New  York  wants — money! 

"Money  talks  in  New  York.  Life  is  a  hell  without 
money.  Now,  my  dear  friend,  we  are  both  making 
money  out  of  her  easily.  And  to  me,  as  well  as  to 
you,  Mrs.  Willoughby's  life  is  of  great  importance. 

"For  my  fee  bill  and  your  profits  depend  upon  her 
being  kept  alive. ' ' 

Vreeland  started,  in  a  sudden  alarm.  "Speak  out, 
man!  What  the  devil  do  you  mean?"  He  saw  a 
black  gulf  yawning  before  him. 

"She  has  some  concealed  source  of  mental  trouble, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  101 

some  eating-  sorrow,  some  overmastering  secret  of 
her  old  life,"  bluntly  answered  Alberg.  "You,  as  a 
man  of  the  world,  could  easily  gniess  that  such  a 
woman  should  be  married.  She  is  rich,  still  very 
beautiful,  young  enough  yet — she  hardly  looks  thirty- 
three — woman's  royal  epoch  of  mental  force  and 
bodily  attractiveness.  Now,  she  has  strange  periods 
of  a  profound  mental  depression. 

"There  are  dark  storms  of  sorrow.  Her  heart 
action  is  somewhat  impaired,  and  the  waves  of  pas 
sion  beat  too  fiercely  in  her  locked  breast. 

"  You  must  help  me!  You  may,  in  this  way,  save 
your  own  future.  We  must  work  together.  Drugs 
will  do  her  no  good.  /  am  at  -my  wits'  ends!"  The 
gloomy  Doctor  buried  his  nose  again  in  the  Rudes- 
heimer. 

"What  can  I  do?"  flatly  said  Vreeland.  "Speak 
out !  Don' t  mince  matters. ' ' 

"Find  out  her  past  social  history.  Find  out  if  she 
ever  was  really  married.  Find  out  if  some  one  has 
a  hold  on  her.  She  is  an  unhappy  woman  at  heart!" 
cried  Alberg.  "It  may  be  that  damned  cold-hearted 
cur,  Hathorn's,  desertion  has  cut  her  to  the  quick! 
Find  out  if  she  really  is  a.  free  woman!" 

"And,  then?"  said  Vreeland,  a  strange  light  coming 
into  his  eyes. 

""Marry  her  yourself  ,"  pleaded  Alberg.  "She  is  one 
woman  in  a  million!  Take  her  away  for  a  year. 
Lead  her  away  from  her  old  self.  Pride  brought  low 
may  have  maddened  her.  I  think  that  Hathorn  first 
fathomed  her  past,  and  then,  coldly  left  her  for  the 
younger  and  perhaps  richer  woman.  It  may  have 
been  too  heavy  a  blow  to  her  pride. ' ' 

"Is  there  anything  in  this  babble  about  Endicott 


102  IN  THE  SWIM. 

or  the  Senator?"  huskily  whispered  Vreeland,  redden 
ing  with  shame  in  spite  of  himself. 

The  half -tipsy  Doctor  laughed.  '  'The  old  man  is 
only  her  business  Mentor — he  is  as  passionless  as  a 
basalt  block. 

"The  Senator  is  but  a  cold-hearted  money  schemer, 
a  Yankee  coining  power  into  hard  cash.  I've  fol 
lowed  all  these  trails  out." 

"And  you  yourself  are  absolutely  in  the  dark?" 
persisted  Vreeland.  "I've  thought  at  times  that  old 
Endicott  may  be  the  trustee  under  some  quiet  old 
marital  separation.  I've  imagined,  too,  that  Wil- 
loughby  mari  may  not  be  really  dead ;  that  she,  in  spite 
of  herself,  learned  to  passionately  love  Hathorn,  and 
has  ardently  desired  him,  and  that  he  selfishly  married 
after  she  had  pulled  him  up  to  fortune,  and  then,  left 
her  powerless  and  tongue-tied,  to  pocket  his  brutal 
ingratitude. 

"Whatever  it  is,  we  need  each  other,  Vreeland. 
I  will  stand  by  you  if  you  stand  by  me.  Is  it  a 
bargain?" 

"I'll  see  you  here  the  same  time  next  Sunday. 
Let  me  think  this  thing  over,"  faltered  Vreeland, 
beginning  to  see  light  at  last  on  his  way. 

"I  should  have  told  you  that  she  usually  has  these 
attacks  after  Endicott' s  occasional  long  private  visits. 
It  may  be  that  the  missing  husband  is  alive ,  and  is 
bleeding  her  financially  with  extortionate  demands," 
was  the  Doctor's  last  confidence. 

"I'll  be  ready  to  talk  to  you  next  Sunday.  Let  me 
go  now,"  breathlessly  cried  Vreeland.  "In  the 
meantime,  keep  a  close  silence.  You  will  find  me  to 
be  the  best  friend  you  ever  had  in  the  world. ' ' 

The  schemer  darted  away  with  a  sudden  impulse. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  103 

Ten  minutes  later  he  sat  with  Justine  Duprez,  in  a 
hidden  little  nest  of  her  own  in  South  Fifth  Avenue. 
It  had  flashed  over  his  mind  that  Mile.  Justine's 
Sunday  off,  just  suited  his  purpose. 

It  was  not  the  first  time  that  he  had  communed 
with  her  there,  in  a  room  once  sacred  to  Frederick 
Hathorn's  private  information  bureau. 

The  startled  maid  had  barely  time  to  meet  her 
generous  new  admirer  when  he  questioned  her 
sharply  upon  the  subject  of  Doctor  Alberg's  recent 
revelations. 

And,  to  his  annoyance,  he  for  the  first  time  found  the 
Parisian  woman  to  be  obdurate.  She  had  been 
curtly  abandoned  by  Hathorn,  who  had  forgotten  to 
hand  over  her  final  payment  in  all  the  hurried  glories 
of  the  VanSittart  wedding. 

She  alone  knew  that  the  vain  fool  had  stupidly 
imagined  that  Elaine  Willoughby  only  urged  on  his 
marriage  in  order  to  be  able  later  to  cloak  an  inti 
macy  which  would  have  later  made  Justine's  fortune. 

And  now,  she  would  not  be  balked  out  of  the 
harvest  of  fortune.  For  an  hour,  the  ardent  Vreeland 
pleaded  with  the  artful  woman.  Her  bold  eyes, 
dulled  with  the  bistre  stains,  gleamed  with  triumph  as 
he  pleaded  with  her. 

The  elegant  young  man  alternately  flattered  and 
caressed  the  brown-faced  intrigante,  whose  coarse 
beauty  had  long  been  the  toast  of  the  cabaret  which 
she  yearned  to  possess  in  Paris. 

Her  voluptuous  bosom  and  heavy  haunches  were 
the  antipodes  of  Vreeland' s  beauty  ideal,  and  yet,  he 
knelt  to  flatter  and  to  sue.  For  she  alone  could  spy 
upon  the  most  sacred  privacy  of  the  woman  he  had 
sworn  to  rule. 


104  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Justine  eyed  him  keenly,  and  spoke  at  last.  "Give 
me  a  thousand  dollars  and  promise  that  you  will  give 
me  a  free  hand  if  you  marry  Madame,"  she  said,  as  she 
yielded  to  his  self-abusing  pleadings. 

"And  only  you  shall  know  her  secrets.  I  hate 
that  Doctor!"  she  cried.  "I  can  find  out  all  you 
want  to  know,  but,  you  must  do  as  I  wish."  Her 
velvet  eyes  gleamed  in  a  fierce  flame. 

"Listen,  Justine,"  urged  Vreeland.  "To-morrow 
I  will  bring  you-  a  thousand  dollars  when  I  come  to 
the  Circassia.  Tell  me  now  what  you  can ;  I  swear 
to  make  you  rich  if  you  will  only  stand  by  me.  It  is 
Sunday,"  he  added.  "No  banks  are  open  to-day. 
This  first  hundred  will  not  count. ' ' 

And  he  thrust  a  bill  into  her  brown  hand. 

"I  have  watched  for  years  to  find  the  secret  of  her 
past  life,"  promptly  said  the  sly  Justine,  drawing  nearer 
to  Vreeland.  ' '  I,  too,  thought  of  an  affaire.  It  is  not. 
But,  a  secret  there  is,  and  only  one  man  knows — the 
old  lawyer.  I  hid  myself  near  them  on  his  last 
visit,  for  they  talked  long,  and  Madame  fell  down  faint 
ing  after  he  had  gone  away. 

"Their  talk  was  of  the  old  times,  and  it  is  always  so, 
when  they  come  to  that.  But,  this  time  I  listened 
carefully  while  she  moaned  in  her  sorrow. ' ' 

"And  she  said?"  anxiously  cried  Vreeland. 

"  'My  child!  My  child!  Give  me  back  my  child!' 
she  cried.  And  so  there  is  a  child,  and  it  is  not  of  the 
Senator!  Voila!  They  are  stupidement  placide 
toujours!  Les  affaires!  Only — ze  monnaie!  She 
loves  him  not.  And  only  the  old  man  knows.  You 
shall  watch  him  and  her." 

A  sudden  suspicion  of  a  feminine  double  life 
brought  a  name  to  Vreeland's  lips. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  105 

"Hathorn!"  he  said,  with  a  meaning  look  at  his 
partner  in  an  already  vicious  intrigue.  For  Justine 
Duprez  knew  him  in  all  the  pliant  baseness  of  his 
real  nature,  and  they  had  groveled  toward  each  other 
from  the  very  first. 

The   Parisian  gamine  laughed  a  bitter,  hard  laugh. 

"I  have  been  at  Madame 's  side  since  the  first  day 
when  this  egoist  Hathorn  first  met  her.  There 
has  been  no  love,  no  intrigue,  no  child.  And  he — 
the  hard-hearted  brute — schemed  only  for  her  money. 

"No!  It  is  beyond  me.  Beyond  my  seven  years 
of  service.  I  will  reach  la  my  stir  e  yet  for  you,"  she 
smiled.  "And  you  will  perhaps  find  that  there  was 
ze  old  divorce,  ze  old-time  scandale.  And  the 
other  man,  the  husband,  has  perhaps  taken  away 
the  child.  The  sorrow,  yes;  the  secret  d' amour,  no! 
Elle  est  trop  bravement  b£te  pour  V amour  a  la  mode. 

The  journalist?  Ah,  no!  II n' est  qu'un  brave  ami! 
Pas  plus!"  It  was  dark  before  the  "rising  star"  dared 
to  steal  away  from  Justine's  little  pied  a  terre,  for  too 
well  Vreeland  knew  that  the  enraged  Hathorn  was 
shadowing  his  every  movement. 

Justine  had  fled  away,  light-hearted,  after  the 
sealing  of  a  pact  which  was  to  lead  her  to  the  splen 
dors  of  Dame  du  Comptoir  of  her  own  cabaret.  And 
as  Vreeland  strolled  homeward  he  summed  up  the 
situation. 

"Her  only  friend  and  confidant  is  Endicott.  No 
thoroughfare  there.  Alberg,  this  German  brute, 
knows  nothing  and  Hathorn  less  than  nothing,  or 
he  would  have  already  used  it  against  her  in  this 
bitter  petticoat  fight. 

4 '  I  will  hoodwink  them  all.  My  time  will  come  when 
I  have  gained  her  cherished  secret.  And  if  I  do  gain 


io6  IN  THE  SWIM. 

her  secret,  it  will  be  on  the  market,  to  the  highest  bid 
der,  perhaps  to  the  dashing  Alida  Hathorn,  or  else  be 
quietly  nursed  to  later  bring  me  in  a  fortune." 
He  was  satisfied  with  his  day's  work.  The  light 
was  dawning  now. 

When  the  adventurer  reviewed  the  whole  situa 
tion,  he  felt  that  the  mystery  was  as  yet  hidden  in 
Elaine  Willoughby's  ardent  bosom.  "The  day  will 
come  when  she  will  need  me,  when  she  will  tell 
me  all,  when  she  is  safe  to  live  a  free  woman's 
heart-life.  I  will  wait  on  her  and  give  no  one  my  con 
fidence. " 

During  the  long,  busy  week  before  the  Christmas 
holidays,  Vreeland  narrowly  watched  his  strange, 
silent  partner,  Horton  Wyman,  to  see  if  he  were 
bidden  to  the  Lakemere  house  party. 

"He  is  the  only  one  that  I  have  to  fear,"  mused 
Vreeland,  "for,  with  Senator  Alynton's  backing  and 
his  daily  intercourse  with  old  Endicott,  I  would  be 
bowled  out  in  a  moment,  if  I  made  a  single  misstep. 
Can -he  yearn  for  Elaine  Willoughby's  money?" 

In  the  daily  office  associations,  the  casual  meetings 
at  the  Circassia,  in  the  feebly  maintained  exchange 
of  personal  hospitalities,  Horton  Wyman  had  so  far 
remained  to  him  an  unexplored  country. 

Cool,  sturdy,  with  piercing  black  eyes,  and  a  mar 
velous  self-control,  with  a  facial  mask  which  even  a 
Jesuit  might  have  envied,  Horton  Wyman  was 
seemingly  devoid  of  any  passion  but  money-making. 

Vreeland  had  gained  the  general  impression  that 
he  was  "bookish,"  and  the  silent  partner  avoided 
all  show  society. 

Thirty-five  years  sat  lightly  on  the  man,  whose 
scanty  references  to  Senator  Alynton's  millionaire 


IN  THE  SWIM.  107 

father  indicated  that  the  "poor  relation,"  had  been 
trained  up  in  adversity  as  the  dead  financier's  private 
secretary.  "He  is  a  fellow  to  beware  of.  I'll  let 
him  alone,"  mused  Vreeland. 

Harold  Vreeland  thanked  his  lucky  stars  when 
Wyman  drew  him  into  his  private  den  when  the  first 
sporadic  Christmas  trees  were  beginning  to  creep  into 
Gotham. 

"Well,  old  man,"  cheerfully  said  Wyman,  "I'm  off 
for  a  two  weeks'  visit  to  the  Alyntons.  Endicott  will 
handle  our  Board  work  through  his  uncle's  private 
broker,  and  Maitland  and  Noel  will  take  their  leave 
after  we  return.  I  suppose  that  you  will  be  at  the 
Lakemere  house  party. 

"Of  course,  there's  no  need  of  you  following  up 
things  at  the  office.  Here's  my  telegraph  address,  if 
anything  turns  up,  and,  of  course,  Mrs.  Willough- 
by  will  call  on  you  if  she  needs  anything. 

"We've  got  the  thing  running  pretty  smoothly,  so 
take  your  full  share  of  mistletoe.  Noel  tells  me  that 
all  the  prettiest  girls  in  town  will  be  up  there  at 
Lakemere."  It  was  a  welcome  relief. 

"I  have  now  a  free  field,"  jubilantly  exclaimed 
Vreeland.  "He  is  as  indifferent  to  her  as  if  she 
were  only  a  cloak  model.  JVow,  for  Lakemere!" 

Vreeland  never  stopped  in  his  trickery  to  be 
ashamed  of  his  low  truckling  with  the  French  maid, 
whose  malleable  conscience  was  at  his  disposal,  in  the 
hopes  of  much  future  backsheesh. 

And  so  the  adroit  Continental  Doctor  had  now  two 
false  friends  between  him  and  the  woman  who  was  his 
"star  patient"  and  whom  he,  too,  intended  for  an 
innocent  dupe.  The  fate  of  every  rich  and  lonely 
woman ! 


108  IN  THE  SWIM. 

It  was  under  the  Christmas  tree  at  Lakemere  that 
Harold  Vreeland  learned  for  the  first  time  why  the 
Queen  of  the  Street  had  held  him  for  months  in  a 
glittering  quiescence  in  the  rapidly  built-up  firm. 

The  merry  guests  were  already  assembled  on  the 
other  side  of  the  curtain  when  the  breathless  Justine 
drew  Vreeland  into  a  dark  corner. 

The  French  woman's  panting  bosom  heaved  as  she 
whispered:  "She  wants  to  see  you  in  there,  first  of 
all.  Now  is  your  time,  but  don't  forget  me,  Harold." 

There  was  the  pledge  of  an  infamous  pact  in  the 
meeting  of  their  guilty  eyes.  Justine  now  stood,  with 
flaming  sword,  between  her  secret  lover  and  those 
who  would  approach  the  woman  who  held  both  their 
fortunes.  Her  dark  fidelity  was  doubly  bought. 

It  was  a  robed  queen  who  stood  waiting  there  by  the 
fragrant  Christmas  tree  and  held  both  her  hands  out 
to  Harold  Vreeland.  The  Lady  of  Lakemere  at  her 
very  best! 

With  beaming  eyes,  she  handed  him  an  envelope 
and  whispered :  ' '  The  time  has  now  come  when  you 
will  have  your  own  part  to  play,  under  my  sole  orders. 

"I  know  your  whole  record.  You  have  been  my 
own  faithful  knight. 

' '  Listen !  All  these  merrymakers  will  go  away  with 
the  old  year.  Judge  Endicott  brings  me  the  firm's 
settlement  papers  on  New  Years.  I  will  then  send 
for  you  and  make  you  my  secret  representative  in  a 
momentous  affair. 

' '  To  protect  my  interests  you  must  at  once  leave 
the  Waldorf. 

"Trust  to  me!"  she  smiled.  "I  will  have  your 
bachelor  apartments  ready.  And  no  one,  not  even 
Wyman,  must  ever  learn  of  your  'secret  service.' 


IN  THE  SWIM.  109 

Silence  and  obedience,  and  your  fortune  is  assured. 
You  alone  shall  battle  for  me  and  drive  this  fool 
Hathorn  forever  from  the  Street. 

"Go  now!  You  will  leave  with  the  first  departing 
guests,  but  await  my  telegram  at  the  Waldorf  to 
come  to  me  here.  And  so,  I  have  your  plighted  word. 
Never  a  whisper  to  a  living  soul.  You  are  to  be 
still  only  the  office  partner — to  the  world!" 

Vreeland  snatched  her  trembling  hand  and  kissed  it. 

It  was  burning  in  fever. 

But  he  sped  away,  and  before  the  curtain  rose  to  a 
chorus  of  happy  laughter  and  shouts  of  delighted 
surprise,  a  glance  in  a  corner  of  the  hallway  where 
Justine  awaited  him  showed  him  a  check  for  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  as  his  Christmas  gift.  His 
patroness  had  handed  him  the  precious  envelope  in 
silence. 

In  a  low  whisper  he  opened  the  gates  of  paradise  to 
the  French  woman,  who  watched  her  lover  with 
flaming  eyes.  "Five  thousand  dollars  of  this  to  you, 
if  you  find  out  for  me  the  secret  of  that  child. ' ' 

And  he  left  her,  panting  with  the  thrill  of  a  sated 
avarice. 

' '  I  will  go  through  fire  and  water  to  serve  you, ' '  she 
faltered.  "I  will  steal  the  secret  from  her  midnight 
dreams. ' ' 

That  night,  after  the  gay  dances  were  done,  when 
the  house  was  stilled,  Elaine  Willoughby  sat  before 
her  fire,  while  Justine  laid  away  the  regal  robes. 

There  was  the  glitter  of  diamonds  and  the  shimmer 
of  pearls  everywhere.  With  her  hands  clasped,  the 
lonely  mistress  of  Lakemere  gazed  into  the  dancing 
flames. 

"I  must  crush  him — to  leave  the  past  buried — that 


no  IN  THE  SWIM. 

I  may  yet  find  the  path  trodden  by  those  little  wander 
ing  feet. 

"Ah,  my  God!"  she  moaned,  "it  is  not  revenge  that 
I  want.  It  is  love — her  love — I  burn  to  know  her  mine 
alone.  And  the  past  shall  be  kept  as  a  sealed  book, 
for  her  dear  sake.  It  must  be  so.  It  is  the  only 
way.  For,  Vreeland  is  brave  and  true!" 

The  handsome  hypocrite  was  even  then  dreaming 
of  a  "double  event,"  a  duplicated  prize,  one  beyond 
his  wildest  hopes. 

"By  heaven!  I'll  have  both  her  and  the  fortune!" 
His  busy,  familiar  devil  "laughed  by  his  side." 


BOOK  II— WITH  THE  CURRENT. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  THE  "ELMLEAF"  BACHELOR  APARTMENTS. 

Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  silently  wondered  at  the 
protean  character  of  womanhood  as  he  watched  Mrs. 
Elaine  Willoughby's  almost  feverish  gaiety  in  the 
few  days  which  followed  their  new  relation.  "I  can 
believe  anything  of  a  woman' s  subtle  arts  after  this, ' ' 
he  wonderingly  said,  as  he  made  himself  a  graceful 
factor  in  the  joys  under  holly  and  mistletoe. 

Not  a  single  reference  to  the  coming  business  had 
ever  escaped  her,  and  she  was  as  merrily  impartial 
in  her  favors  as  a  girl  at  her  first  ball. 

There  was  hardly  a  financier  in  the  house  party, 
Noel  Endicott'  s  visit  of  a  day  being  a  mere  duty  call. 
"  She  evidently  wishes  to  hide  our  intimacy  from  all, 
and  to  publicly  impress  only  the  social  character 
on  our  friendship, ' '  mused  Vreeland. 

"Lady  mine!  you  are  a  deep  one!"  he  mused. 
Never  had  he  been  placed  next  to  her  at  dinner,  and 
even  at  the  cotillion's  trifling  favors  she  had  only 
sought  him  among  the  very  last. 

He  was  aware  that  all  New  York  knew  of  how  Hat- 
horn  had  been  coached  up  by  her  into  financial  glory. 
"That  mistake  she  will  not  repeat.  It's  a  case 
of  blood  and  the  secret  warpath,  now,"  reflected 
Vreeland. 


112  IN  THE  SWIM. 

But  with  the  check  for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
in  his  pocket,  he  felt  that  his  silence  was  paid  for  in 
advance.  He  was  swimming  gaily  on  with  the  cur 
rent  now. 

He  had  calmed  Dr.  Hugo  Alberg  down  into  an  expec 
tant  friendship  by  agreeing  to  dine  with  him  once  a 
week  and  to  exchange  regular  reports  at  Martin's. 

"So  far,  I  have  found  out  nothing,  Doctor,"  said 
the  lying  Vreeland;  "but  I  have  written  out  West. 
I  understand  that  she  has  immense  properties  in 
Colorado.  If  I  get  a  clew,  you  and  I  will  work  it  up 
together. 

"In  the  mean  time  watch  over  her  yourself,  and  then 
tell  me  all." 

Alberg  was  in  high  glee  at  his  social  de"but,  and 
confided  to  Vreeland  that  their  patroness  was  in  the 
most  brilliant  health. 

"We/I,'  good-humoredly  answered  Vreeland, 
"between  you  and  me  we  will  manage  to  guard  her 
and  take  care  of  her  property,  if  she  will  only  let  us. ' ' 

The  miserly  German's  eyes  gleamed  as  they  drank 
to  their  private  pact. 

"The  great  thing  is  to  keep  every  one  else  away 
from  her,"  whispered  Alberg.  "I  of  course  watch 
her  professionally.  You  must  keep  off  all  those 
society  sharks  like  that  upstart  Hathorn. ' ' 

"Trust  to  me.  I  know  my  business,"  laughed 
Vreeland. 

When  Vreeland  left  Lakemere  on  the  last  day  of  the 
old  year,  his  only  reminder  was  the  whispered  word, 
"Remember!" 

' '  I  will  wait  at  the  Waldorf, ' '  he  answered,  with  a 
last  meaning  gleam  in  his  eyes. 

Standing  now  on  an  almost  secure  pedestal,  Vree- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  113 

land  never  dared  to  dream  of  the  sentimental  approach 
upon  the  woman  who  was  now  the  sole  arbiter  of  his 
destiny. 

"That  would  be  the  clumsiest  mistake  of  all,"  he 
decided.  "Only — when  she  comes  into  the  net — I 
will  tighten  it. ' ' 

He  well  knew  that  the  bachelor  apartment  was  to 
be  the  scene  of  some  veiled  financial  strategy  and  not 
a  rosy  Paphian  bower. 

Mean  and  low  at  heart  as  he  was,  he  knew  that 
her  soul  towered  above  all  low  deceit,  as  the  rosy 
Jungfrau  lifts  its  unsullied  peaks  to  the  blue  skies. 

The  one  rare  virtue  of  this  scoundrel  in  embryo  was 
that  no  inane  self-conceit  clouded  his  clear  and 
mercilessly  direct  reasoning. 

' '  I  am  only  her  tool  as  yet, ' '  he  reflected. 

"But  the  Endicotts,  Aubrey  Maitland,  and  Wyman 
are  to  know  nothing!  This,  of  course,  excludes 
Senator  Alynton.  She  trusts  me  then  alone — of  the 
whole  world. ' '  And  so,  he  panted  for  the  coming 
solution  of  the  enigma. 

As  he  departed  for  New  York,  he  left  one  lynx- 
eyed  aid  behind  him. 

It  was  the  hot-hearted  Justine,  who  already  knew 
what  her  etrennes  would  be — a  second  thousand  dollars. 

"Remember,  my  own  Justine,"  he  urged,  with 
glowing  eyes,  "I  want  you  to  earn  that  whole  five 
thousand  dollars.  Spy  on  Alberg. 

"He  is  only  a  fool.  But  catch  every  whisper  of  this 
wary  old  Endicott.  He  alone  knows  what  you  must 
learn.  There  lies  your  fortune — in  those  pretty  ears. ' ' 

"I  have  made  my  plan,"  smilingly  whispered  the 
brown-skinned  maid.      "I    am    going    to    earn    that 
money.     Remember,  I  am  vraie  Frangaise/" 
8 


114  IN  THE  SWIM. 

There  were  but  two  plausible  explanations  of 
Madonna's  strangely  secret  course.  Some  "deed 
without  a  name"  was  in  the  plot. 

And  none  of  her  old  friends,  no  one  of  the  financial 
world,  not  even  her  advisers,  tried  and  true,  were  to 
share  the  secret  of  the  two  for  whom  the  "bachelor 
apartment"  was  to  be  the  veiled  headquarters. 

"Either  Hathorn  has  surprised  the  secret  of  her  early 
life  and  spirited  away  her  child,  hoping  to  have  drawn 
her  down  to  his  will,  or — can  it  be  that  she  means  to 
sell  out  the  sugar  syndicate?" 

He  gazed  reflectively  at  the  winter  landscape  flying 
by,  as  he  pondered  over  the  first.  "No/"  was  his 
correct  deduction.  "Hathorn  is  powerless.  He  would 
surely  have  held  on  to  her  business,  by  fear  or  force, 
and  gained  the  inside  track  in  the  great  gamble,  Sugar. 

"He  would  have  bent  her  to  his  will,  and  carried  on 
the  old  hideous  gilded  sin — to  make  his  light  o'  love 
his  young  wife's  best  friend. 

"That's  quite  fin  de  sihle  in  New  York,  they 
tell  me. 

"His  crime  was  only  the  bull-headed  folly  of 
preferring  another  and  a  younger  woman  to  the  one 
woman  whom  he  could  have  gratefully  and  logically 
married. 

"There  is  a  man's  fatuous  vanity  to  look  for  her 
support  in  chasing  down  a  younger  and  prettier  rival 
under  her  very  eyes.  And  yet,  she  hastened  on  the 
marriage.  By  Jove!  she  did.  It' s  a  mystery  to  me !" 

The  puzzled  schemer  never  knew  of  the  real  foun 
dation  of  his  own  blossoming  fortunes. 

The  lightning  flashes  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  mad 
anger  came  when  Judge  Endicott  had  found  out  that 
Frederick  Hathorn  was  secretly  shadowing  his  loving 


IN  THE  SWIM.  115 

and  trusting  employer  and  tracing  back  her  past  life. 
Then,  Elaine  Willoughby  became  a  wolf  on  the  trail. 

All  of  social  life  is  but  a  hoodman  blind  game.  The 
stern  old  lawyer  was  only  carrying  out  a  secret  quest, 
and  he  could  not  divine  that  Hathorn's  real  object 
was  to  trace  down  to  a  direct  connection  Elaine 
Willoughby 's  secret  alliance  with  the  heads  of  the 
great  Sugar  Trust.  It  was  but  a  mean  money  greed, 
after  all. 

Keenly  alive  to  every  pointer  of  the  Street,  Hat- 
horn  had  not  learned,  for  all  his  five  years  of  florid 
devotion,  that  his  lovely  patroness  had  sealed  that 
one  treasured  secret  in  her  soul.  And,  meanly,  he  had 
tried  to  dig  under  her  mines.  But  it  was  the  thirst 
for  gold  alone  that  fired  his  veins. 

Hiram  Endicott  alone  knew  of  the  coolly-devised 
scheme  by  which  the  woman  whom  he  had  deceived 
had  made  Hathorn's  marriage  and  enforced  absence 
the  epoch  for  a  complete  break-off  of  all  business 
relations. 

But  she,  deluded,  as  even  the  keenest  mortals  are, 
in  stocks,  love,  or  war,  only  feared  for  the  one  darling 
secret  of  her  heart — that  veiled  sorrow  which  lay 
behind  Hiram  Endicott' s  useless  search  of  years. 

And  in  the  defense  of  that  one  pure  and  unsullied 
memory,  she  would  have  torn  herself  from  Hathorn's 
arms  even  at  the  altar.  For  there  is  a  love  which 
can  tear  the  face  of  any  man  from  a  true  woman's 
heart — the  mother  love. 

Before  Harold  Vreeland  reached  New  York  he  had 
decided  upon  the  "Sugar  speculations"  as  the  secret 
reason  for  setting  up  the  "bachelor  apartment." 

It  was  now  a  matter  of  gossip  on  the  Street  that  the 
great  Standard  Oil  Company  was  reaching  its  octopus 


n6  IN  THE  SWIM. 

arms  out  for  "safe  investments,"  as  well  as  sure 
new  speculative  fields. 

To  use  a  huge  surplus  of  idle  money  and  an  inex 
haustible  credit,  it  was  rumored  that  they  pro 
posed  to  sneak  into  a  quiet  mastery  of  the  American 
Sugar  Refinery  Company's  outside  stock,  and  even  in 
time  to  gather  in  all  the  great  Gas  monopolies  of 
Manhattan  Island. 

" That's  my  lady's  game!"  gleefully  cried  Vreeland. 
"She  could  crush  Hathorn  at  will.  Their  business 
is  ruined.  The  ugly  rumors  as  to  his  shabby  behavior 
to  her  have  hurt  that  firm. 

"And  Potter,  too,  is  about  to  draw  out.  Wolfe  has  nc 
money  to  speak  of.  'Missie  VanSittart'  will  not  pay 
her  husband's  stock  losses,  not  she." 

Harold  Vreeland  grinned,  for  the  young  woman's 
name  was  even  now  lightly  bandied  by  the  club  jackals, 
but  only  sotto  voce,  in  deference  to  her  social  rank. 

"That's  her  little  game!  She  dares  not  let  Alynton 
know  that  she  proposes  to  dally  with  the  other  side  in 
this  coming  fight  of  giants. 

"She  proposes  to  'copper'  the  game  of  'more  sweet 
ness  and  light, '  as  well  as  play  it  for  a  sure  winner. 

"And  I  am  to  be  her  left  hand,  and  the  right  (our 
firm)  is  to  be  ignorant  of  what  the  left  doeth ! ' ' 

He  was  well  aware  that  in  some  way  she  was  always 
early  possessed  of  all  the  Sugar  Syndicate  secrets. 
Whether  Endicott,  Alynton,  the  statesman,  or  Conyers 
was  her  coach,  he  knew  not. 

"Perhaps  all  three — the  law,  the  senate,  and  jour 
nalism,  ' '  he  grinned. 

"Or,  is  she  going  to  betray  these  people  to  the 
newcomers?  There  would  be  enormous  profits  in  that 
'sweet  surrender.' 


IN  THE  SWIM.  H7 

"I  shall  enjoy  the  run,  and  be  in  at  the  death,"  he 
gaily  cried,  as  he  sought  his  hotel  in  a  vastly  enhanced 
good  humor. 

When  he  entered  the  Waldorf,  a  sudden  encounter 
made  him  think  that  angels  of  light  had  invaded  the 
crepuscular  gloom  of  the  long  hall  in  the  early  winter 
evening. 

He  scarcely  credited  his  senses  when  Mrs.  Frederick 
Hathorn  motioned  him  to  a  corner  of  the  Turkish 
room,  after  his  startled  but  gravely  polite  salute. 

The  lady  was  a  ravishing  example  of  the  "survival 
of  the  fittest"  in  the  line  of  Worth,  Pingat,  and 
Redfern. 

With  a  wave  of  her  slender  hand  she  swept  away  the 
flood  of  easy  lies  that  were  trembling  on  his  lips,  and 
then,  her  bright  eyes,  deep  and  searching,  seemed  to 
delve  into  his  very  soul. 

"Remember,  you  need  not  answer,  if  you  don't 
care  to ;  but  you  must  give  me  the  right  to  feel  that 
you  are  a  gentleman.  My  husband's  enemies  may 
or  may  not  be  mine ! ' '  She  burned  a  Parthian  glance 
into  his  trembling  heart. 

"Why  did  you  conceal  from  him  that  you  were  going 
into  banking,  and  let  him  go  on  and  parade  you  as  his 
best  friend,  and  all  that?"  she  curtly  demanded. 

"Mrs.  Hathorn,"  earnestly  pleaded  the  accom 
plished  liar,  "another  man  had  my  promise  of  partner 
ship  long  before  I  left  Montana.  He  was  already 
making  arrangements  as  to  offices  and  several  confi 
dential  matters  on  which  our  firm's  future  depended. 

"I  was  only  asked  to  give  your  husband  an  answer 
on  October  ist. 

"And  I  did  give  one  early  enough — a  friendly 
declination — which  your  husband  made  me  repeat  too 


n8  IN  THE  SWIM. 

forcibly.  You  should  not  blame  me  for  our  little 
estrangement. ' ' 

"And  you  did  not  scheme  to  supplant  him  with — 
with — ' ' 

"One  word,  Madame,"  meaningly  said  Vreeland. 
"I  have  opened  my  heart  to  you.  Noblesse  oblige! 
Your  question  was  one  I  could  honorably  answer, 
just  as  I  could  not  honorably  forewarn  men  whom  fate 
had  made  our  business  rivals. 

"Remember,  all's  fair  in  love,  stocks,  and  war. 
And  it's  every  man  for  himself  in  New  York. " 

"And  every  woman,  too,"  added  Mrs.  Alida,  with 
a  little  snaky  smile. 

"I  always  liked  you, "  she  hesitatingly  said,  and  then, 
her  eyes  dropped  before  the  ardent  and  merciless 
gaze  of  a  man  who  now  saw  "a  new  way  to  pay  old 
debts. ' ' 

"Then  let  me  volunteer  a  hint  that  I  have  never 
supplanted  your  husband  with  anyone  nor  soitght  to. 
My  capital  alone  gives  me  weight  in  our  firm.  I  have 
never  even  opened  a  ledger  or  made  an  individual  trans 
action. 

"Pride  and  old  comradeship  should  temper  each 
other  in  your  husband.  I  have  only  avoided  the 
distressing  embarrassments  which  he  alone  has 
brought  upon  himself,  and  you  will  always  find  me 
youi  secret  friend,  though  I  can  not  seek  you  out  in 
this  winches'  parade  of  Gotham.  You  know  all  the 
reasons  why  I  can  not  range  myself  openly  at  your 
side. ' '  His  devilish  familiar  was  now  whispering  in 
his  ear. 

The  victim  was  young,  fair,  and  foolish. 

The  luxurious  woman  sighed.  All  her  allures  had 
been  baffled. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  119 

"If  I  should  need  to  tax  your  friendship?"  she 
slowly  said,  her  breathing  quick  and  fierce,  telling 
of  her  agitation. 

It  was  now  Vreeland's  eyes  which  "burned  into  her 
spirit's  core." 

"Yes;  if  you  make  the  place  where  we  can  meet 
without  a  foolish  risk  and  placing  us  both  in  a  false 
position. ' '  4 

He  glanced  around  the  debatable  ground  of  the 
Turkish  room.  Any  notable,  from  Chauncey 
Depew  down  to  the  last  "Western  bonanza  beauty, " 
might  surprise  them  there  at  any  moment. 

"Will  you  come,  if  you  need  me?"  he  whispered, 
taking  her  hand,  with  insidious  suggestion. 

"Perhaps,"  she  faltered,  with  pale  and  trembling 
lips,  and  when  he  looked  up  he  was  alone,  but  a  knot 
of  lilies  of  the  valley  from  her  corsage  lay  in  his 
hand. 

He  dreamed  strange  dreams  that  night,  for  he  well 
knew  of  the  seraglio  secrets  of  the  bachelor  apart 
ments  of  New  York. 

He  knew  the  light  vanity  that  might  lead  her 
feet  to  the  "Castle  Dangerous"  to  solve  the  riddle 
which  was  as  yet  a  mystery  to  himself. 

But  he  whistled  "Donna  e  Mobile"  very  con 
tentedly,  as  he  awoke  to  find  a  telegram  on  New 
Year's  morning  from  his  sly  partner  in  an  already 
plotted  treason.  Justine's  words  were  pithy,  and 
Justine  was  on  guard. 

"  Watch  in  South  Fifth  Avenue  for  news!" 

The  simple  signature  J  followed  the  words:  "Law 
yer  here.  See  me  first  on  your  arrival. ' ' 

' '  I  think  that  I  am  a  pretty  lucky  devil, ' '  was  the 
flattering  unction  with  which  Vreeland  regaled  his 


120  IN  THE  SWIM. 

soul,  as  he  drove  down  to  Wall  Street  and  found  the 
two  responsible  men  there  on  duty. 

Noel  Endicott,  with  Aubrey  Maitland,  were  in  a 
secret  junta  busily  opening  the  new  set  of  books. 

The  finely  assumed  carelessness  of  Vreeland  cov 
ered  his  desire  to  trace  and  locate  the  only  man  he 
feared — Mr.  Horton  Wyman. 

"Just  write  your  dispatch,"  calmly  said  Endicott. 
"I'll  send  it  down  to  Washington  to  Alynton's  pri 
vate  secretary,  and  you'll  have  Wyman 's  answer  at 
once.  They  are  inspecting  some  of  Alynton's  West 
Virginia  properties. ' ' 

And,  in  truth,  an  open  answer  to  Vreeland 's  holi 
day  greeting  was  at  the  Waldorf  when  the  schemer 
finished  his  New  Year's  dinner,  and  slipped  out  to 
visit  the  lair  where  a  wrinkled  hag  guarded  Justine 
Duprez'  convenient  pied  &  terre. 

He  marveled  long  over  a  second  dispatch  which 
awaited  him  there.  Its  words  were  ominous,  and 
yet,  Elaine  Willoughby  was  firm  and  steadfast  in  her 
purpose. 

"She  has  been  greatly  excited.  Doctor  Alberg  has 
been  telegraphed  for.  You  are  to  come  to-morrow. 
Lawyer  leaves  to-night.  Dare  not  communicate  by 
letter.  I  have  the  most  important  news.  " 

And  all  night  Harold  Vreeland  was  tossed  about  in 
a  vain  unrest. 

He  knew  that  his  greedy  accomplice  Justine  would 
easily  handle  and  draw  out  Alberg,  for,  not  of  a 
jealous  disposition,  Vreeland  was  perfectly  willing 
that  the  doctor  should  be  made  a  tool  of  the  facile 
Parisienne. 

"You  know  how  to  lead  him  on,  Justine, "  was  Vree 
land 's  easy-going  hint,  whereat  the  demure  maid 


IN  THE  SWIM.  121 

dropped  her  lashes  and  smiled.  And  after  all,  even 
the  artful  Justine  was  only  means  to  an  end. 

The  recurring  excitement  of  the  tortured  lonely 
rich  woman  was  only  a  new  phase  of  the  old  invincible 
mystery.  "Can  it  be  a  gigantic  game  of  blackmail, 
the  infamous  price  of  someone's  silence — the  bribe  to 
her  quiet  enjoyment  of  a  station  not  her  own?  What 
hideous  Frankenstein  hides  behind  the  dropped  arras 
of  her  life?" 

Vreeland  knew  how  many  dark  shadows  lurked 
behind  the  bright  curtains  of  New  York's  Belgravia 
and  Mayfair. 

"By  God!  I  shall  know  soon!"  he  growled,  as  the 
second  day  of  the  new  year  brought  him  the  dispatch 
confirming  Justine's  watchful  foresight.  There  was 
no  uncertain  ring  to  the  words  of  the  Lady  of  Lake- 
mere. 

"Come  to  me  at  once!  Immediate  action  neces 
sary  ! ' ' 

"It  seems  to  be  something  recurrent — something, 
too,  that  even  golden-massed  money  can  not  help !  She 
would  quickly  brush  this  trouble  away,  if  the  'long 
green'  would  do  it.  And,  it  must  be  something  which 
that  old  fox,  Endicott,  can  not  help,  or  he  would  stay  up 
there  on  guard  and  help  it,  instead  of  leaving  her  to  Dr. 
Hugo  Alberg's  chloral,  chlorodyne,  and  phenacetine. 
There  must  be  an  ugly  snarl — some  olden  shame,  some 
hidden  disgrace." 

Vreeland  very  well  knew  that  the  sly  German  prac 
titioner's  drugs  had  brought  his  patient  "no  surcease 
of  sorrow,"  but  only  "pushed  the  clouds  along"  to 
a  new  day  of  reactionary  misery.  For,  the  proud  heart 
was  sealed  and  yet  surcharged  almost  to  its  breaking. 

"I  wonder  what  our  opinion  of  each  other  would  be 


122  IN  THE  SWIM. 

if  we  all  had  to  walk  abroad  with  our  life  stories  openly 
branded  on  our  faces?"  mused  the  anxious  Vreeland, 
as  he  drove  away  to  the  station.  The  flying  wheels  of 
the  coupe"  seemed  to  clatter  "Not  much!  Not  much! 
Nothing  at  all!"  He  meanly  believed  all  men  and 
women  to  be  as  base  at  heart  as  himself. 

"Thank  Fortune  for  the  decent  lies  of  a  smooth 
appearance  and  a  still  tongue!"  was  the  schemer's 
cheering  conclusion,  as  he  finally  dismissed  all  vain 
moralizing,  and  then,  wondered  how  he  would  meet 
the  crafty  Justine  first,  and  so  be  able  to  gain  her 
budget  of  stolen  tidings  before  he  faced  the  watchful 
Lady  of  Lakemere. 

The  provokingly  suggestive  face  of  the  French 
woman  met  him  at  the  front  door,  on  his  arrival.  "I 
am  to  see  that  you  have  your  breakfast, ' '  she  smilingly 
said,  "while  Doctor  Alberg,  now  upstairs,  prepares 
Madame  for  your  visit!" 

And,  as  she  drew  him  into  a  coign  of  vantage,  she 
whispered,  ' '  He  is  now  my  very  slave !  For  he,  too,  is 
hunting  for  an  ally,  and  I  had  him  all  to  myself  last 
evening!  Now  for  the  news!  You  can  afford  to 
be  liberal  to  me ! ' ' 

Her  eyes  were  beaming  with  that  vicious  triumph 
of  an  unfaithful  underling  discovering  the  naked  soul 
of  her  helpless  mistress. 

The  household  traitor  is  the  lowest  of  all  human 
spawn. 

"Tell  me  everything,"  was  Vreeland's  hurried 
response.  "When  I  marry  her,  I  will  be  the  King  of 
the  Street,  and  you  shall  stay  with  us  as  long  as  you 
wish — it  will  be  always  the  same  between  us. ' ' 

The  woman's  gleaming  eyes  softened  in  a  glow  of 
triumph. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  123 

"And,  your  house  at  Paris  shall  be  my  pied  a  terre. 
But,  give  me  every  word — remember!" 

His  bosom  was  rent  with  thronging  hopes  and  fears. 

Justine  smiled,  as  she  pressed  herself  close  to  the 
handsome  scoundrel. 

"It  is  a  bargain,  then.  I  will  hold  you  to  every 
word,  and  I  will  never  let  you  go.  How  I  secreted 
myself  so  as  to  hear  them,  is  my  own  business.  But 
I  did.  In  their  fear  of  Doctor  Alberg,  whom  Endicott 
heartily  despises,  they  fell  easily  into  my  hands. 
There  was  much  talk  of  the  child — a  girl — a  missing 
girl — her  child — but  no  time  or  age  was  given — no 
whisper  of  the  father's  name." 

Justine  paused,  while  Vreeland  hoarsely  whispered, 
' '  Go  on !  Go  on !  Quick !  She  may  send  any  moment 
for  me,  now ! ' ' 

"It  appears  she  had  placed  her  child,  to  get  rid  of  it, 
in  a  'private  Orphan  Asylum"  here,  in  the  city.  Just 
why — I  can  not  tell.  But,  they  have  lost  all  traces 
of  the  girl. 

"The  old  man  said,  'I  have  followed  up  every  "pri 
vate  inquiry' '  possible,  since  your  orders  of  last  summer. 
These  detective  fellows  all  come  to  me  for  their  money 
on  the  New  Year.  Now  you  must  be  brave,  Elaine, ' 
he  said,  and  I  could  hear  her  choking  sobs. 

"  '  I  have  very  bad  news. ' 

"  'She  is  dead?'  almost  screamed  Madame. 

"From  my  little  peep-hole,  I  could  see  the  old 
lawyer  take  her  hands. 

"  'We  have  been  led  away  on  a  blind  trail.  And  I 
have  only  just  now  found  the  right  one — but  to  lose  it 
forever,  I  fear.  For  one  of  my  best  agents  has  dis 
covered  that  Doctor  McLloyd's  private  Orphan  Asylum 


124  IN  THE  SWIM. 

was  chased  out  of  New  York  City  by  some  angry  rivals, 
and  a  bevy  of  too  inquisitive  reporters. 

" 'The  Doctor  was  making  money  too  fast,  and 
there  was  a  very  suspicious  mortality  among  the  little 
girls.  It  reappeared  as  the ' '  House  of  the  Good  Samari 
tan, "  at  a  little  village  in  Westchester  County.  The  old 
Doctor  has  gone  either  to  his  reward,  or  punishment. 
Probably,  the  latter. 

' ' '  But  the  sly  hypocrite  who  sported  a  D.  D. ,  as  well 
as  a  medical  title,  left  the  Westchester  property  to  a 
buxom  grass  widow,  who  long  officiated  as  his  matron. 

"  'This  woman  is  now  forty  years  old — well-to-do 
— and  is  married  to  a  thrifty  young  farmer — -a  man 
who  is  not  particular  as  to  how  she  earned  the 
handsome  property  which  they  enjoy.' 

"Mrs.  Willoughby  was  softly  sobbing  when  he 
finished. 

"  'By  the  lavish  use  of  money  and  a  compact  of 
immunity,  she  agreed  to  privately  examine  the  books 
and  records.  Of  course  she  has  not  got  them.  "It  is  a 
friend — and  so  on."  We  did  not  dare  to  force  her. 
For,  she  is  a  very  sly  bird. 

"  'She  was  only  twenty-two  when  she  eased  the 
good  Doctor's  lonely  hours,  and  she  is  a  remarkably 
cool  hand  at  the  game  of  life. ' 

"The  old  man  sighed,  as  he  said,  'It  appears  that 
the  enthusiastic  childless  woman,  who  first  adopted 
the  child,  died  in  two  years  after  your  babe  was  taken 
away  from  the  "private  Orphan  Asylum,"  and,  as  her 
young  husband  remarried  in  a  year,  he  brought  the 
pretty  child  back  and  left  her  again  on  McLloyd's 
hands — with  a  handsome  present. 

"  'The  girl  was  a  beautiful  three-year-old  fairy,  and 
the  "matron"  remembers  her  especially.  But,  McLloyd, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  125 

always  anxious  for  profit,  gave  her  to  the  first  decent 
applicants,  a  respectable  childless  couple,  from  West 
ern  New  York. 

'"Under  the  name  of  "Alva  Whiting"— full 
orphan — she  was  sent  away  for  the  second  time. 

"'I  must  find  her!  You  must  advertise!'  cried 
Madame. 

"'Ah!'  said  the  old  lawyer.  'There  is  no  hope. 
The  young  widower  came  back,  after  his  second 
wedding  was  all  safe,  returning  from  a  three  years' 
visit  in  Europe.  By  a  strange  chance,  his  later  union 
was  also  childless. 

"  'Rich,  and  now  thoroughly  independent,  he,  too, 
wished  to  trace  "Alva  Whiting,"  and  to  reclaim  her. 

"  'But  the  matron  says  that  even  the  wily  McLloyd, 
tempted  by  a  handsome  reward,  failed  to  find  her. 
The  Western  New  York  people  may  have  given  a 
false  name,  to  prevent  the  child  from  ever  knowing 
that  she  was  not  their  own. 

"  'That  is  all — the  matron  would  gladly  earn  our 
offered  money — she  knows  nothing. 

"  'And  now,  God  alone  can,  in  his  infinite  mercy, 
ever  reclaim  "Alva  Whiting." 

" 'I  have  tried  to  induce  this  woman  to  meet  me. 
She  flatly  told  my  agent  that  she  would  have  all  the 
books  burned — and  then,  deny  everything — if  her  pros 
perous  middle  age  was  connected  with  old  McLloyd's 
baby  farm.  She  cried,  "I'm  as  fond  of  money  as 
anyone — but  there's  the  end  of  it." 

"  'No  more  would  she  say.  I  fear  there  is  no 
hope. '  The  old  lawyer  was  almost  in  tears,  as  he  saw 
Madame 's  sufferings. 

"Now,"  whispered  Justine,  "I  merely  saved  my 
place  by  that  agility  of  body  which  you  have  so  often 


126  IN  THE  SWIM. 

praised.  When  Madame  fell  in  a  dead  faint,  and  the 
old  lawyer  screamed  for  help,  I  just  ran  around  the 
hall,  knocking  over  a  table,  and — the  rest  has  been 
left  in  Doctor  Alberg's  hands.  So,  you  now  know 
all."  The  schemer's  brain  was  working  like  lightning 
as  they  parted  in  silence. 

After  the  breakfast,  it  was  Justine  who  conducted 
Vreeland  to  Madame  Willoughby's  morning  room — 
but  not  until  Doctor  Alberg  had  first  waylaid  him. 

"The    same    old    mystery!"    the    German   sighed. 

"Money  trouble  it  can  not  be." 

He  flourished  his  arm  in  the  direction  of  the  fortune 
in  art  and  bibelots  scattered  around. 

"Her  general  system  is  without  disease.  Her  mind 
and  self-control  are  perfect.  She  has  no  concealed  bad 
habits,  like  the  'suffering  New  York  dames,'  "  he 
sneered.  "But  always  periodical  violent  storms  of 
sorrow,  these  violent  attacks  following  old  Endicott's 
business  visits. 

"There  must  be  some  old  bug-a-boo.  Now,  I 
know  lonely  women  are  often  apt  to  be  hysterical. 

"Marry  her.  Take  her  away  to  Europe.  Make  her 
happy.  She  is  a  Venus  de  Melos,  yet  in  her  prime. 
Break  off  the  domination  of  this  old  legal  crab. 

"Marriage  reveals  all  secrets,  finally.  You  will  sure 
ly  break  his  hold  on  her.  You  are  no  sentimentalist. 
I  will  prescribe  marriage — do  you  see?  We  will  work 
together.  I  will  be  your  ally  —  your  slave — your 
friend. 

'  'You  can  well  afford  to  be  generous,  and  you  then 
can  work  me  in,  as  confidential  physician,  into  that 
golden  New  York  circle  where  the  women's  confidence 
once  gained,  a  man  need  not  look  further  for  a 
Golconda. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  127 

"Discretion,  silence,  and  a  willingness  to  go 
through  fire  to  hide  any  woman's  secrets — voila — the 
perfect  doctor — the  successful  medical  man!  Shall 
we  work  together — you  and  I?" 

The  young  schemer  grasped  the  greedy  German's 
hand.  "I'll  stop  at  nothing — to  help  you.  By  God! 
you  shall  have  her  every  secret. ' ' 

"If  sago.     Loyal  to  the  end,"  whispered  Vreeland. 

"And  you  and  I  breakfast  at  Martin's  every  Sun 
day  till  I  am  a  happy  bridegroom. ' ' 

The  alert  physician  glided  away  to  where  Justine 
Duprez's  eyes  called  him,  with  their  velvety  lure. 

Harold  Vreeland 's  face  was  lit  up  with  a  tender 
sympathy,  as  he  knelt  before  the  fair  woman  who  lay 
in  a  chaise  tongue  before  her  superbly  sculptured  fire 
place.  There  was  a  surprise  in  store  for  "the  knight 
of  the  ribbon  blue. ' '  His  patroness'  face  was  stoically 
calm.  She  was  no  hysterical  weakling! 

With  a  perfect  self-possession,  she  plunged  at  once 
into  the  "business  in  hand." 

"A  modern  mystery,"  he  murmured.  "A  sphinx 
of  the  heart, "  for  Elaine  Willoughby,  Napoleon-like, 
ignored  her  ailments,  whether  of  a  mere  passing  weak 
ness  or  "memory's  rooted  sorrow."  And  at  what 
seciet  cost? 

' '  Time  presses ! ' '  she  said.  ' '  Follow  my  every  word. 
For,  I  have  sent  them  all  away.  There  is  only  Doctor 
Alberg  in  the  house — and  Justine  always  keeps  him  in 
her  eye. ' ' 

Vreeland  breathed  hard.  It  dawned  upon  him  that 
the  universally  pliant  French  woman  was  in  the  receipt 
of  several  salaries. 

"She  is  a  smart  devil,"  he  thought,  with  a  glow  of 
pride. 


128  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"I  shall  have  to  travel  some,  this  spring — in  connec 
tion  with  very  important  movements  and  reactions  of 
a  specialty  in  the  stock  market,  which  you  alone  will 
know  of. 

"You  and  I  must  be  the  only  ones  to  handle  the 
concealed  intimacy  of  ours.  Not  even  Endicott  sus 
pects. 

"He  never  must.  No  one  in  the  firm.  Should 
foul  play  or  awkwardness  reveal  it,  the  firm  name 
of  Wyman  &  Vreeland  would  come  down  in  a  day. 
So,  mark  my  every  word.  I  will  not  return  to  New 
York  till  you  are  installed  in  your  new  apartments  in 
the  Elmleaf. 

"It  is  well  located,  in  the  'thirties' — I  have  taken 
the  best  one  on  the  top  floor  to  aid  you  in  the  gay 
and  showy  life  that  I  wish  you  to  lead  there. 

"You  will  find  your  new  man,  Bagley,  a  veteran 
London  valet,  just  brought  over,  waiting  to  report  to 
you  now  at  the  Waldorf.  He  has  never  been  in 
America  before,  and  none  of  our  opponents  know  him. 
I  had  Justine  engage  him  through  Low's  Exchange. 

"The  rooms  are  already  decorated  and  arranged  for 
you.  They  have  been  ready  for  a  month,  and  no  one 
can  ever  trace  the  ownership.  The  whole  belongings 
are  yours. ' ' 

Vreeland  found  a  voice.  He  began  his  grateful 
praise. 

She  smiled  faintly.  "Nay!  no  thanks!  It  is  purely 
a  business  matter.  If  you  wish  anything  else,  give  a 
list  to  me.  I  will  transmit  it  to  the  furnisher,  who 
will  at  once  provide.  There  will  be  no  bills.  I  hope 
that  the  rooms  will  please  you.  Of  course,  I  shall 
never  see  them. ' ' 

The  young  would-be   bridegroom   noted  the   cold 


IN  THE  SWIM.  129 

dignity  of  her  measured  sentences.  There  was  the 
thin  icy  rivulet  still  between  them. 

"Mark  me  now,"  she  said.  "There  is  a  working 
room,-  and  a  private  secretary  (a  stenographer,  type 
writer,  and  telegraph  operator)  will  attend  daily,  from 
nine  until  six.  The  telegraph  and  private  telephone 
wire  are  connected  with  my  rooms  in  the  'Circassia. ' 
There  is  a  duplicate  'phone  joining  you  with  'Central, ' 
for  your  social  use. "  Vreeland  began  to  take  his  cue. 

"From  the  cafe  in  the  Elmleaf,  you  can  have  morn 
ing  service,  and  be  furnished  such  entertainment  as 
you  may  wish  to  give.  I  presume  that  you  dine  at 
your  clubs,  or  in  society.  The  cafe"  accounts  will  all 
come  to  me." 

She  paused,  and  studied  Vreeland 's  face  closely. 

"And,  in  all  this,  what  ,am  I  to  do?"  he  asked 
bewildered. 

The  Lady  of  Lakemere  laughed  gaily  at  his  embar 
rassment. 

"You  are  to  move  in  there,  at  once.  Sign  the  lease 
for  a  year.  Bagley  will  take  charge  of  you.  There 
you  are  to  give  a  jolly  house-warming.  Call  up  all 
your  friends.  Do  not  neglect  Merriman,  Wiltshire, 
and  Rutherstone.  You  are  to  be  pretty  gay.  These 
gentlemen  may  even  bring  some  of  the  ladies  who 
wear  diamond  garter  buckles.  So  much  the  better ! 

"When  I  return  to  New  York,  you  are  to  report  to 
me  at  the  'Circassia,'  and  the  serious  business  of  your 
new  life  will  then  begin.  The  woman  whom  I  will 
send  to  you  as  secretary  is  thoroughly  reliable,  and  I 
will  answer  for  her  fidelity." 

"The  woman?"  babbled  the  astounded  Vreeland. 

"Yes !     Miss  Mary  Kelly — a  talented  young  business 


130  IN  THE  SWIM. 

woman  of  perfect  accomplishment,  who  represents 
me. ' '  The  voice  of  the  lady  was  cuttingly  clear. 

"Her  slight  lameness  alone  prevents  her  being 
placed  in  some  position  of  the  greatest  trust.  .  That 
room  only  is  sacred  from  all  of  your  rattle-headed 
social  friends.  I  trust  her  implicitly. ' ' 

"I  begin  to  understand  you,"  gravely  said  Vree- 
land. 

"Under  the  guise  of  enjoying  my  life  and  living  up 
to  my  prosperity,  I  am  to  hide  the  momentous  secret 
stock  business  carried  on  there. ' ' 

"Precisely,"  soberly  said  Elaine  Willoughby. 

"The  office  business  below?"  he  hesitatingly  said. 

"Ah!  I  have  given  up  months  to  the  study  of  this 
new  arrangement,"  thoughtfully  said  the  Queen  of 
the  Street.  "You  are  to  be  master  of  your  own 
hours. 

"Once  a  day,  however,  you  are  to  show  up  at  the 
downtown  office.  Wyman  knows  that  you  will  be 
busied  at  home  a  great  deal.  You  will  have  no 
awkward  questions  asked.  Endicott  will  watch  the 
downtown  affair." 

"The  firm  signature?"  he  said. 

"Will  never  be  used.  You  will  sign  'Harold  Vree- 
land,  Trustee,'  and  the  securities  handled  daily  will 
be  delivered  to  me  at  the  'Circassia, '  on  my  list  of 
purchases  and  sales.  Your  checks  and  my  daily  state 
ments  are  to  correspond." 

"In  other  words,  I  am,  as  trustee,  your  hidden 
broker?"  Vreeland  said. 

"Under  my  daily  orders,"  she  gravely  answered. 
"And  you  are  not  to  deny  that  you  indulge  in  private 
speculations.  You  are  not  even  to  avoid  Hathorn's 
nearest  friends. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  131 

"Even  if  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris  should  steal  into 
your  breakfast  room,  or  a  bevy  of  the  gay  young 
matrons,  or — even  a  pretty  anonyma — your  record  as 
a  'preux  chevalier'  in  gayest  New  York  will  not  suffer. 
You  are  to  be  a  young  man  a  la  mode."  Vreeland 
bowed  in  a  grave  silence. 

That  night,  when  he  returned  to  New  York  City,  to 
blindly  obey  his  strange  patroness,  Vreeland' s  bosom 
was  big  with  his  happy  secrets. 

"I  am  to  hold  the  hidden  fort  'of  the  Sugar 
treasure.'  " 

He  divined  a  bitter  campaign  against  Hathorn.  And 
he  then  dreamed  a  strange,  sweet,  wicked  dream. 
Alida  Hathorn' s  stolen  visits — with  Justine,  perhaps 
— as  a  dark-eyed  devil  laughing  over  the  downfall 
of  his  enemy's  wife. 

"I  will  make  my  own  little  game,"  he  laughed. 


132  IN  THE  SWIM. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"PLUNGER"  VREELAND'S  GAY  LIFE,   "UNDER 
THE  ROSE." 

Before  the  February  snows  were  congealed  into 
those  dirty  flakes  of  ice  and  street  mud  which  are  an 
evidence  of  the  "effectiveness"  of  New  York's  Street 
Cleaning  department,  the  "top  floor"  of  the  Elmleaf 
bachelor  apartment  was  considered  to  set  the  pace  for 
the  gayest  of  the  bachelor  apartments  of  Gotham. 
The  hidden  programme  was  even  literally  carried  out. 

Outwardly,  the  daily  life  of  that  fortunate  indi 
vidual,  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland,  had  undergone  little 
change.  Once  a  day  he  duly  occupied  his  desk  at  the 
downtown  office,  using  alternately  the  morning  and 
afternoon  fraction. 

He  proved  a  very  "tough  nut  to  crack"  for  the  local 
gossips,  however.  There  was  a  Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr. 
Hyde  flavor  of  mystery  clinging  to  the  audacious 
young  "Westerner. "  The  slow  trots  of  the  "Locust" 
and  the  old  senile  wiseacres  of  the  "Sentinel"  clubs 
wondered  at  his  calm  demeanor,  his  easily  acquired 
repose  of  the  caste  of  "Vere  de  Vere. "  Vreeland  was 
posing  now  as  a  '  'fixed  star. ' ' 

Not  even  Bradstreet,  or  Dun,  could  seize  upon  any 
public  delinquencies  to  the  detriment  of  his  "business 
character,"  and  yet,  Harold  Vreeland  had  rapidly 
acquired  the  reputation  of  a  "devil  of  a  fellow.  "  He 
had,  like  Byron,  his  "hours  of  idleness." 

There  was,  too,  an  outward  prosperous  harmony  in 


IN  THE  SWIM.  133 

the  busy  office  of  Wyman  and  Vreeland,  now  packed 
with  clerks  and  forging  to  the  front  as  a  house  of 
unexampled  strength. 

There  was  a  sober,  quiet  effectiveness  in  the  firm, 
which  shamed  the  nervous  ''bucket  shop"  decadents, 
who  were  only  noisy,  screaming  gulls,  clamoring  over 
the  financial  sea  for  "any  old  thing"  in  the  way  of 
floating  pabulum. 

It  was  undeniable  that  the  hats  went  off  to  right  and 
left,  as  Vreeland  paced  the  sacred  precincts  of  Wall, 
Broad  and  Pine.  A  rising  man — a  successful  man — 
a  man  of  mark ! 

"A  safe  man,  sir!  A  wonderful  young  financier! 
A  man  whose  outside  operations  are  enormous!" 
gravely  said  the  cashier  of  the  Mineralogical  Bank  to 
his  esteemed  colleague,  the  cashier  of  Henry  Screws  & 
Company. 

"You  see!"  confidentially  said  the  speaker,  between 
two  mouthfuls  of  "hasty  lunch,  "  "the  house  is  bound  _ 
not  to  speculate,  but — Vreeland,  as  an  individual,  is 
to-day,  perhaps  the  heaviest  single  operator  of  all  the 
young  men  of  New  York."  The  young  man's  fame 
was  duly  noised  abroad. 

"Where  does  he  get  all  his  backing?"  grunted  the 
other,  as  he  dashed  down  a  tankard  of  "bitter.  " 

"He  owns  the  half  of  Montana,"  dreamily  said  the 
Mineralogical's  Cerberus. 

"And  so,  he  is  founded  on  the  eternal  rocks. " 

It  was  not  half  an  hour  until  this  brilliant  new 
canard  was  traveling  like  a  winged  locust — and,  it 
soon  achieved  the  voyage — even  to  the  jungles  of 
Harlem — and  spread  all  over  Gotham  like  the  Canada 
thistle  attacking  a  poorhouse  farm.  A  new  financial 
Napoleon  had  appeared. 


134  IN  THE  SWIM. 

The  self-possessed  Vreeland  was  astounded  at  the 
many  offered  social  honors,  the  crowding  attractive 
business  temptations,  and  all  the  rosy  lures  now 
thronging  his  pathway.  He  knew  not  as  yet  the 
whole  force  of  a  lie  "well  stuck  to,"  which  often 
treads  down  the  modest  and  shamefaced  truth. 

And  even  the  agnostic  sneer  of  "parvenu"  was 
spared  him.  He  was  suave,  careful,  chary  in  making 
enemies,  and  strictly  non-committal. 

His  conduct  toward  Elaine  Willoughby  absolutely 
disarmed  even  that  vigilant  social  scavenger,  Mrs. 
Volney  McMorris. 

For,  many  other  men  were  just  as  often  seen  on  par 
ade  in  Elaine's  opera  box.  Senator  Alynton,  General 
Morehouse,  U.  S.  A. ,  Judge  Arbuckle,  and  other  social 
heavy  guns  oftener  pressed  the  cushions  of  her 
victoria,  or  nestled  under  her  sleigh  robes. 

The  Lady  of  Lakemere's  dinners  were  always 
stocked  with  a  half  dozen  masculine  "lions"  of  deep- 
toned  and  majestic  growl.  There  were  also  two  or 
three  society  swells — "howling  swells" — who  repre 
sented  the  "froth  and  foam,"  and  these  young  men, 
with  vacuous  smiles  and  heaven-kissing  collars, 
impartially  formed  the  "bodyguard"  at  theatre 
parties,  and  a  gilded  Spartan  band,  deftly  "cleaned 
up"  the  debris  of  the  midnight  spread  in  the  Waldorf 
supper  room. 

Elaine  had  a  peculiar  fashion  of  segregating  the  lions 
and  dudes,  and  sending  each  kind  of  social  animal 
forth  radiant  with  self-satisfaction,  after  a  happy  five 
minutes  passed  with  her  alone — in  the  pearl  boudoir. 

So,  calm  and  serene,  Harold  Vreeland  duly  came 
and  went.  Men  wondered  that  he  so  freely  stood 
back  to  let  "other  fellows  take  up  the  running,"  and 


IN  THE  SWIM.  135 

Augustus  Van  Renslayer  sagely  summed  up  the  ver 
dict  of  the  younger  "women  hunters"  of  New  York: 
"He  is  no  marrying  man.  He  lives  in  an  eternal' 
picnic  of  his  own — up  there — in  the  Elmleaf. "  It 
was  vaguely  understood  that  Sardanapalus  was  Vree- 
land's  patron  saint,  and  Bacchus  and  Nero  his  house 
hold  gods.  The  charm  had  worked  but  too  well. 

And  the  women  of  Gotham,  those  bright-eyed  heart- 
wreckers,  were  all  fain  to  agree  with  the  catfish-eyed 
Van  Renslayer.  There  was  a  fatal  impartiality  in  the 
easy  gallantry  of  the  wary  Princeton  graduate. 

Liberal,  dashing,  mindful  of  all  the  petits  agre- 
mens,  he  was  no  woman's  slave — and  yet,  all  women's 
friend.  If  no  single  heart  quivered  at  his  master 
touch,  still,  there  were  many  arms  open  to  him  selon 
son  metier.  A  fatal  curiosity  led  many  a  pretty 
Columbus  on  voyages  of  discovery  to  the  Elmleaf — 
whereat  Bagley  duly  grinned. 

That  famous  housewarmiiig  had  been  a  marvel  in 
its  delicate  recognition  of  the  monde  ou  Von  s'ennuie, 
and  the  judicious  hilarity  of  the  Demi-Vierges. 

For  the  return  of  Mr.  James  Potter,  now  finally 
severed  from  the  flagging  firm  of  Hathorn  &  Wolfe, 
had  furnished  Vreeland  with  a  brilliant  new  idea. 

There  was  a  superb  "First  Part,"  in  which  Mrs. 
Volney  McMorris  lightly  and  amiably  matronized  the 
bravest  ladies  of  the  "swim" — who  had  long  been 
burning  to  inspect  the  splendors  of  the  upper  floor  of 
the  Elmleaf. 

Among  the  forty  guests  of  the  "official"  pro 
gramme,  were  such  undeniably  good  form  clubmen 
as  Potter,  Wiltshire,  Merriman,  and  Rutherstone. 
They  and  their  gilded  brothers  suggested  the  names 
of  willing  goddesses,  and  so  it  was  that  Miss  Katharine 


136  IN  THE  SWIM. 

VanDyke  Norreys,  the  "staccato"  Calif ornian  heiress 
— Mrs.  Murray  Renton,  of  Cleveland — and  several 
other  detached,  semi-detached,  and  detachable 
women  "of  spotless  reputation,"  joyed  with  the 
host's  convives,  dipped  their  laughing,  rosy  lips  in 
his  Roederer,  and  pattered  with  their  lightly-treading 
feet  over  his  airy  domain  of  a  wondrously  refined 
luxury. 

It  was  nearly  one  o'clock  when  the  grave  Bagley 
had  closed  the  last  carriage  door  and  sent  the  two 
policemen  away  with  "a  heavenly  smile  on  their 
faces"  —  and  a  five-dollar  bill  clutched  in  each 
brawny  hand. 

And  then,  on  softly-rolling  rubber  wheels,  came 
slipping  along  under  the  shadows  of  clubhouse  and 
virtuous  mansions  of  drowsy  decorum,  the  pick  of 
Cupid's  Dashing  Free  Lances — the  very  flower  of  the 
Light  Infantry  of  Love.  This  "Pickett's  charge"  of 
these  demure  Demi-Vierges  was  successful. 

It  was  the  solemn  Bagley  who  marveled  as  he  sped 
these  "shining  ones"  on  their  way  up  the  stair  at  the 
struggling  odors  of  "Y'lang  Y'lang, "  "Atkinson's 
White  Rose,"  "Wood  Violets,"  and  "Peau  d'Es- 
pagne. ' ' 

For  days,  that  scented  staircase  recalled  the 
"informal  visit"  of  the  regent  moon,  Miss  Dickie 
Doubleday;  the  audacious  Tottie  Thistledown,  the 
fair  queen  of  light  heels ;  Nannie  Bell,  the  mignonne 
chanteuse,  and  several  other  disciples  of  the  "partly" 
and,  alas,  the  "altogether."  The  girdle  of  Venus  was 
en  Evidence  that  happy  night. 

It  is  true  that  the  glass  globes  automatically  shrank 
up  in  affright  toward  the  ceiling,  as  these  flashing- 
eyed  birds  fluttered  in  and  burst  upon  the  gay  banquet 


IN  THE  SWIM.  137 

"mid  the  bright  bowls. "  The  Elmleaf  never  sheltered 
a  lighter-hearted  crew. 

It  was  left  to  the  imperturbable  Bagley,  next  day, 
"to  gather  up  the  fragments,"  and  headaches,  heart 
aches,  and  visions  of  "woven  paces  and  waving  arms," 
— with  sky-pointed  toes  and  glimpses  ne  quid  nimis 
of  clocked  stockings  and  sleek  tricots,  were  fairly 
divided  among  the  gallant  swains  who  "did  not  go 
home  till  morning." 

It  was  in  this  jovial  manner  that  Vreeland  vindi 
cated  the  public  character  of  un  homme  galant, 
which  his  strange  feverish-hearted  patroness  seemed 
to  thrust  upon  him.  And  he  wondered  as  he  obeyed 
— but,  the  game  went  bravely  on. 

There  were  some  seriously  tender  interludes  in  the 
"evening's  hilarity."  Miss  Dickie  Doubleday,  in 
the  empanchement  de  son  dme  and,  watchfully  jealous 
of  that  dimpled  star,  Stella  Knox,  had  quickly 
effected  a  truce,  of  an  amatory  character,  with  the 
loved  and  lost  Jimmie  Potter,  who  had  lived  to  learn 
that  her  heart  was  "a  bicycle  made  for  two" — if  not 
more. 

"After  the  ball,"  Potter  ostentatiously  lingered  to 
smoke  a  last  weed  with  Vreeland,  who  had  opened 
for  him  alone  the  last  unprofaned  corner  of  his 
domain — that  Bluebeard  chamber  which  was  "strictly 
business."  He  knew  that  Potter  was  secret,  safe, 
and  gamely  silent. 

"Ah!  my  boy!"  sighed  Potter.  "I  see  how  you 
carry  on  your  own  private  plunging.  What  a  fool 
Hathorn  was — to  quarrel  with  the  Willoughby! 

"Now  that  I'm  out  I  don't  mind  to  tell  you  that 
the  old  firm  is  going  downhill  very  fast.  Hathorn 
lost  his  luck  when  he  cut  the  golden  cord. 


138  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"I  can't  make  him  out.  He  has  grown  strangely 
reckless  and  haggard. 

"And  the  wife  is,  to  say  the  least,  un  pen  insou- 
ciante.  You  know  of  th.at  little  yacht  racket?" — and 
he  whispered  a  few  telling  words. 

"Well!  Alida  Hathorn  was  the  Veiled  Lady. 
I  have  it  from  the  man  who  is  to  be  the  sailing  master 
of  the  'Aphrodite'  next  year. 

"And  the  blinded  Hathorn  is  obstinately  shadow 
ing  Mrs.  Willoughby,  still  following  up  her  game, 
digging  up  her  past,  and  backing  up  all  his  wife's 
acidulated  slanders. 

"When  I  found  this  to  be  a  truth,  and  saw  these 
damned  guttersnipe  Hawkshaws  slipping  in  and  out 
of  his  private  office,  I  decided  to  quietly  withdraw — 
for  a  quieter  and  a  gamer  woman  never  drew  breath 
than  Elaine  Willoughby. 

"I  wish  to  God  that  I  had  married  Alida,"  burst  out 
the  honest  reveler,  whose  relaxed  nerves  had  unsealed 
the  fountains  of  truth.  "For  now,  I  fear,  she  will  be 
every  man's  woman — if  she  don't  pull  up.  She's  left 
all  alone,  and  Hathorn 's  one  idea  is  revenge  upon 
Elaine  Willoughby. 

"And  for  her  sake,  he  bitterly  hates  you.  Look 
out  for  him.  For  he  has  lost  all  self-control.  You 
are  wise  to  play  your  outside  game  here  in  safety. 
Hathorn  would  not  hesitate  to  bribe  your  own  people. 

' '  I  know  he  had  that  big  lump  of  deviltry,  Justine 
Duprez,  in  his  pay.  He  even  took  her  over  to  Paris 
the  summer  Mrs.  Willoughby  went  out  to  Colorado. 
I'm  glad  I'm  out  of  the  stock  business.  You'll  tire  of 
it,  and  with  your  money  why  do  you  fool  with  it?" 

The  young  Croesus  arose  unsteadily,  and  said, 
"Come  to  breakfast  with  me  at  the  Union  to-morrow 


IN  THE  SWIM.  139 

— that  is  to  say,  to-day,"  he  chuckled.  "Well,  let  us 
have  one  hour's  poker — you  and  me — and  with  no 
limit — just  for  fun. 

' '  You  owe  me  a  revenge.  Now,  remember — I  have 
warned  you.  Look  out  that  Hathorn  don't  get  onto 
your  little  game — dig  a  pit — and  drop  you  in  it. 

"He's  grown  to  be  an  ether  drinker  now,  and 
his  wife  is  as  cold-hearted  an  egoist  as  breathes.  Just 
dead  gone  on  herself — and  her  own  pretty  bodily 
mechanism.  If  he  ever  gets  in  an  ugly  money  cor 
ner,  she  won't  give  him  a  sou  marque". 

"Now,  Elaine  Willoughby  has  'held  up  her  end  of 
the  log'  against  some  of  the  stiffest  men  in  Wall 
Street.  She  is  smarter  than  a  whole  stack  of 
Hathorns.  I  know  in  the  outside  companies  that  I 
am  director  of,  she  has  loads  of  the  best  paying  per 
manent  investments. 

"And  if  she  ever  catches  Hathorn  nosing  into  her 
affairs,  or  yours,  for  I  know  your  firm  does  a  part  of 
her  business,  she  will  smash  up  Fred  Hathorn  like  the 
'Mary  Powell'  going  over  a  rowboat. " 

With  an  affected  unconcern,  Vreeland  saw  his 
friend  disappear  in  a  night  hour  club  coupe",  after 
swearing  fidelity  to  the  poker  tryst. 

But  his  heart  was  beating  wildly,  as  he  crawled 
upstairs  in  the  gray  of  the  dawn.  "That's  her  game; 
defense  and  revenge!  I  wonder  if  Hathorn  really 
traced  her  out  to  Colorado,  and  has  he  an  inkling  of 
Alva  Whiting? 

"He's  not  above  levying  a  blackmail.  And  I  am  in 
some  strange  way  her  pawn  in  this  veiled  duel  to  the 
death,  a  duel  between  a  man  and  woman  who  may 
have  often  rested  in  each  other's  arms  with  vows  of 
deathless  love. 


140  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"It  may  be  only  self -protection  that  made  her  shove 
him  off  on  Alida  VanSittart.  How  she  hurried  on 
that  marriage? 

"Was  it  jealousy,  fear,  or  some  of  her  craft?  And 
I  am  used — used  and  only  half  trusted. 

"Wait!  Lady  Mine!  If  Justine  only  plays  me  fair,  I 
will  have  got  all  your  game — and  then  I'll  be  master 
of  you,  Lakemere  and  the  money.  Once  inside 
your  lines,  then  you  will  never  be  able  to  throw  me 
off."  He  was  beginning  to  see  the  threads  of  the 
swift  current  now. 

His  own  expression,  "inside  your  lines,"  haunted 
him  through  his  three  hours'  sleep,  his  bath,  and  early 
breakfast.  Vreeland  had  the  nerves  of  the  Iron 
Duke,  and  he  burned  for  a  few  words  with  Justine, 
who  was  to  seek  him  that  very  morning,  at  her  nest 
in  South  Fifth  Avenue. 

For  there  was  a  southward  trip  impending,  and  he 
wished  to  give  his  one  faithful  spy  her  orders. 

"If  I  could  only  get  at  the  wires  in  her  room!  If  I 
could  only  manage  to  tap  her  talk  and  messages  to 
old  Endicott!  For  this  woman  here  in  the  office 
is  surely  her  spy.  Bagley  may  be. 

"By  Heavens!  There  is  just  one  chance.  And  her 
mail!  Justine  may  help  me.  What  can  she  not  do?" 

His  heart  burned  with  a  dull  jealousy  of  that  past 
when  Justine  had  aided  Hathorn  on  his  upward  way. 
"If  she  could  only  get  around  the  janitor  of  the 
'Circassia,'  and  the  letter  carrier.  What  money  can 
do,  I  can  aid  her  in,  and  she  must  do  the  rest — '  He 
closed  his  eyes  in  a  fierce  glow  of  sensual  irritation, 
for  the  Parisienne  had  already  forged  chains  upon  him 
which,  with  all  his  cold  craft,  he  could  not  lightly 
break  away  from. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  141 

"She  is  not  to  be  resisted — if  she  plays  her  own 
game.  First  the  trip,  then  the  other  idea.  But  I 
could  never  handle  this  pale-faced  St.  Agnes  —  this 
lame  bundle  of  all  the  virtues.  I  must  have  some  one 
else  here  to  watch  Miss  Mary  Kelly — this  convent- 
bred  marvel. 

' '  Why  not  find  a  smart  woman  to  be  my  private  stenog 
rapher  and  one  of  the  right  kind?  She  could  also 
keep  an  eye  on  Bagley  and  the  little  dove-eyed 
devotee.  Justine  may  help  me  to  the  right  woman. 
I'll  tell  her  all."  He  began  to  see  Lakemere  moving 
toward  him. 

The  gilded  child  of  fashion  was  first  at  the  tryst,  and 
Justine  Duprez  threw  herself  into  her  secret  lover's 
arms  with  a  glad  cry  of  triumph,  when  ten  o'clock 
brought  her  to  the  meeting  place.  "If  I  could  only 
come  to  you,"  she  fiercely  sighed — "in  your  palace 
home! 

"But  wait — wait — till  we  have  netted  my  lady.  I 
have  news  now  to  make  your  heart  dance. ' ' 

The  panting  woman  drew  from  her  breast  a  scrawl 
of  paper,  on  which  she  had  copied  even  the  office  marks. 
"This  telegram  came  this  morning.  You  see  that  it 
is  dated  Washington. "  Vreeland's  heart  bounded  as 
he  read  the  words:  "Arlington — to-morrow.  Don't 
fail."  Was  it  an  appointment — a  lover's  secret  call? 

He  could  have  shouted  with  triumph,  as  he  gazed 
on  the  signature,  "Alynton,"  for  a  messenger  had 
brought  him  a  note  at  the  moment  of  his  departure 
to  meet  Justine.  His  patroness  had  fallen  into  a 
snare. 

1  'I  am  going  to  Pittsburg  to-night.  Come  up  and 
dine.  I  will  give  you  your  orders  for  a  week. ' ' 

He  drew  out  the  note,  and  glanced  at  the  firm  pen 


142  IN  THE  SWIM. 

stroke.  '  'Can  Alynton  be  the  father  of  Alva  Whit 
ing?"  he  growled. 

He  dropped  his  head  on  the  table,  while  Justine  took 
off  her  hat  and  wraps  with  the  easy  insouciance  of 
a  Camille.  He  was  mad  with  mingled  greed  and 
jealousy. 

"Perhaps!  Alynton's  father  was  an  irascible 
magnate  of  enormous  wealth.  They  are  about  the 
same  age.  He  may  have  feared  his  father's  wrath, 
for  he  naturally  should  make  a  political  marriage. 
Ah !  my  lady,  you  have  lied  to  me. 

"If  it  is  not  the  old  secret  of  two  guilty  hearts, 
then  there  is  the  gordian  knot  of  the  great  Sugar 
intrigue  in  this." 

His  thoughts  thronged  upon  him  with  lightning 
rapidity,  and  as  her  head  lay  on  his  arm,  he  gave 
the  triumphant  Frenchwoman  her  orders. 

"Our  whole  future  hangs  on  your  adroitness.  You 
must  find  out  what  goes  on  between  them.  In  a 
hotel  you  have  a  far  better  chance  than  in  either  of 
her  two  homes." 

Vreeland  murmured  that  in  her  ears  which  made 
the  vicious  woman's  cheeks  redden. 

"Bah!  all  we  women  are  alike,"  she  sneered.  "But 
if  she  slyly  sends  me  out?"  There  was  a  gloomy 
pause. 

"I  do  not  think  that  she  suspects  you,"  finally 
answered  Vreeland.  "Telegraph  me  here  what  you 
dare  to. 

"And  bring  me  all  the  other  news  in  person.  Now, 
tell  me  all  you  know  of  this  very  saintly  young  Mary 
Kelly." 

His  voice  had  the  ring  of  anxiety.  "I  have  had  the 
janitor  and  the  letter-carrier  watch  her.  They  are 


IN  THE  SWIM.  143 

both  friends  of  mine,"  modestly  murmured  Justine. 

"She  lives  near  us,  on  a  side  street,  with  her  old 
mother.  And  never  goes  out  with  a  man,  except 
Officer  Daly.  Daly,  the  Roundsman.  A  beau  gargon, 
too;  but  it  may  be  only  a  flirtation  Catholique  a 
rirelandaise. 

"I  have  often  followed  her  myself  to  church.  And 
she  comes  once  a  week  to  Madame.  They  always 
look  over  papers  together. ' ' 

"And  that  smug  devil  Bagley,"  cried  Vreeland, 
"only  comes  to  the  door,  leaves  me  the  pacquet  of 
bills,  and  does  not  even  see  Madame.  He  gets  an 
order  for  the  money,  and  then  returns  later  with  the 
receipted  bills. ' ' 

Justine  was  back  at  the  Circassia  before  Vreeland 
left  her  rooms  to  engage  in  his  little  joust  at  poker 
with  Mr.  James  Potter,  whose  morning  diet  of  red 
pepper,  cracked  ice,  and  soda  water  had  at  last 
brought  him  up  to  the  normal,  after  several  sporadic 
cocktails. 

All  through  the  quiet  duel  of  cards,  Vreeland  was 
haunted  by  the  twin  obstacles,  Bagley  and  Miss  Mary 
Kelly.  "Bagley  is  a  perfect  servant,  and  I  can  not  get 
any  excuse  to  rid  myself  of  him.  My  secrets  are 
not  kept  where  he  can  reach  them, ' '  mused  Vreeland. 

"The  girl  I  surely  dare  not  displace;  but  I  can 
get  around  them  both,  if  I  have  the  right  kind  of  a 
woman  here  near  me.  I  have  the  excuse  of  my  'out 
side  correspondence'  and  social  affairs. 

"Miss  Kelly  is  sacred  to  the  affairs  of  this  cool- 
headed  patroness  of  mine.  And  even  Elaine  can  not 
object. 

"It  would  'give  away'  her  veiled  espionage  on  me. 
Yes,  that's  the  plan!  I  can  advertise;  pick  one  or  two 

10 


144  IN  THE  SWIM. 

out  of  a  hundred  women  and  then  try  them  on, ' '  he 
craftily  smiled,  "and  only  begin  my  real  operations 
when  I  have  found  the  right  one  and  the  two  young 
women  have  struck  up  an  intimacy."  He  laughed. 
"My  pretty  spy  shall  watch  the  placid  young  saint." 

Vreeland  tossed  upon  his  bed  that  night,  and 
reflected  upon  the  singular  methods  of  his  covert 
business. 

A  list  of  stocks  sent  to  him  by  messenger,  or 
personally  delivered  by  Mrs.  Willoughby,  to  be 
bought  and  sold,  with  seemingly  no  guiding  rule; 
all  the  checks  signed  only  by  him  as  "Harold  Vree 
land,  Trustee, ' '  and  all  the  securities  daily  deposited, 
after  due  receipt  and  tag,  in  Mrs.  Willoughby 's  steel 
vault  compartment  at  the  Mineralogical  Bank.  And 
she  alone  knew  of  gain  or  loss.  He  was  only  a 
gilded  dummy. 

But  one  great  house  guarded  all  these  covert 
transactions,  and  the  deliveries  to  them,  in  case  of 
sales,  were  always  made  by  an  order  on  the  cashier 
of  the  Mineralogical. 

A  dozen  times  the  wily  schemer  had  verified  that 
Mrs.  Willoughby  knew  all  the  details  of  each  purchase 
or  delivery  long  before  his  own  daily  report. 

For  when  her  account  was  actively  moving,  once  a 
day  the  mistress  and  her  secret  agent  always  met. 

But  never  had  Elaine  Willoughby's  foot  mounted 
the  broad  steps  of  the  Elmleaf,  neither  had  the 
luxury-loving  man  ever  dared  to  yield  to  Justine's 
mad  desire  to  visit  him  in  his  splendid  new  home. 

"It  would  be  simply  a  financial  suicide — our  joint 
ruin!"  he  had  whispered. 

"But  wait — wait  till  I  marry  her!" 

And  then,  their  chiming  laughter  ended  the  daring 


IN  THE  SWIM.  145 

woman's  pleadings.  For  the  time  was  to  come  when 
the  fortune  of  the  generous  dupe  would  be  ruled  by 
the  victorious  young  Napoleon. 

Harold  Vreeland  knew,  in  his  heart,  that  the  Queen 
of  the  Street  was  aware  of  the  wild  daily  life  of  the 
men  in  the  Elmleaf. 

For  after  rout-ball,  opera,  and  theatre  there  were 
often  stolen  visits,  aided  by  the  friendly  mantle  of 
darkness,  and  diamonds  which  had  gleamed  but  an 
hour  before  on  calm  and  unsullied  brows  at  the 
opera  glittered  balefully  in  the  crepuscular  gloom  of 
shaded  rooms,  where  at  least  one  of  the  passionate 
lovers  was  far  away  from  home. 

The  schemer  had,  from  the  first,  avoided  all  inti 
macies  with  these  light-headed  men. 

He  knew  that  each  of  his  fellow  locataires  was  a  Don 
Juan,  and  that  tragedy  and  comedy,  sweet  sin  with 
shame,  were  traveling  fast  upon  its  heels  and  satiety 
stalking  along;  that  aching  brows  upon  rose-leaf 
couches  haunted  the  decorous  interiors  of  this  abode 
of  hidden  pleasures.  The  Elmleaf  was  a  Golgotha  of 
reputations. 

And  only  a  fire  or  an  earthquake  could  reveal  the 
daringly  desperate  liaisons,  which,  urged  on  by  the 
delightful  zest  of  danger,  would  have  made  public,  by 
any  sudden  disaster,  a  story  far  more  ghastly  than 
the  untold  record  of  that  hideous  night  when  the 
Hotel  Royal  went  up  in  fire  and  flame. 

It  was  in  a  dull  resentment  against  Elaine,  and 
spurred  on  by  Potter's  tipsy  confidence,  that  Vree 
land,  now  fearing  nothing,  drew  Mrs.  Alida  Hathorn 
aside  as  he  met  her  by  hazard  once  more  in  the  recep 
tion  room  of  the  Savoy.  He  was  waiting  for  a 
momentary  telegram  from  Justine,  when  his  eyes 
10 


146  IN  THE  SWIM. 

rested  upon  the  alluring  moonlight  glances  of  that 
provoking  young  beauty,  Mrs.  Fred  Hathorn.  When 
she  had  gaily  rallied  him  on  the  Sardanapalian 
splendor  of  his  Elmleaf  establishment,  he  whispered 
in  burning  words:  "Why  do  you  not  ever  come  and 
see  it?" 

The  costly  fan  trembled  and  snapped  in  her  hand  as 
she  slowly  said:  "I  wanted  to  ask  you  something 
to-day!  The  time  has  come!" 

"With  Mrs.  McMorris?"  she  whispered,  vaguely 
pointing  toward  his  spider  parlor. 

"Without  Mrs.  McMorris,"  the  ardent  pleading 
voice  replied. 

"I  will  tell  you  all.     I  will  lay  my  life  at  your  feet!" 

Alida  Hathorn  pouted.  "I  will  never  find  my  way." 
Her  tone  was  that  of  light  raillery,  but  her  cheeks 
were  deadly  pale.  She  was  trembling  on  the  brink 
of  her  ruin. 

And  then,  Vreeland,  taking  her  hands  in  his, 
whispered  to  her  words  whereat  the  busy  familiar 
devil  at  his  side  laughed  in  glee. 

"If  you  mean  to  say  yes,"  he  murmured,  "give  me 
that  red  rose  from  your  breast. ' ' 

And  when  he  raised  his  head,  the  rose  in  his  hand 
was  the  pledge  of  a  dark  tryst  of  the  devil's  own 
making. 

Before  he  slept,  for  his  throbbing  heart  would  not 
down  in  the  crowning  victory  of  his  revenge  upon  the 
desperate  Hathorn,  he  tore  open  a  telegram  which 
marked  another  milestone  of  his  life. 

'"''Victory!'''  he  cried,  for  the  words  told  him  of 
Justine's  success. 

"They  dined  to-day  alone  at  the  place  ««uned,  and  I  have  news 
for  you.  Coming  home,  by  Pittsburg." 


IN  THE  SWIM.  147 

The  overjoyed  scoundrel  cried:  "Potter  was 
right,  after  all.  Everything-  comes  round  to  the 
man  who  waits. ' ' 

For  a  study  of  the  great  journals  told  him  of  a 
forthcoming  report  fixing  the  policy  of  the  Govern 
ment  upon  the  tariff. 

"If  she  has  the  secret,  she  will  surely  act  upon  it," 
he  cried.  "That  ties  her  to  the  great  Sugar  Trust's 
secret  service.  Perhaps  he  trusts  her  on  account  of 
the  old  love. 

"Justine  shall  wrest  the  proofs  from  her  by  either 
fair  means  or  foul.  And,  as  for  to-morrow  night — " 
His  lips  were  parched  and  dry  as  he  thought  of  the 
light  foot  slipping  up  the  stairway  of  the  Elmleaf — 
"not  with  Mrs.  McMorris!"  He  seemed  to  be 
wrapped  in  a  golden  whirlwind  of  success. 

"If  she  comes  once  when  she  wishes  to,  she  will 
come  again  when  I  wish  her  to!"  gloated  the  schemer, 
whose  mind  was  now  fixed  upon  detaching  Bagley  upon 
some  trumped-up  errand  and  making  such  a  feast  as 
"Rose  in  bloom"  laid  out  when  the  hoodwinked 
"Shah  Jehan"  was  "away"  at  his  palace  of  Ispahan. 

"I  now  hold  the  cards,  and  I  shall  be  the  victor  at  last 
in  this  game  of  life, ' '  he  swore,  as  he  dreamed  of  those 
pleading  moonlight  eyes. 

Harold  Vreeland  waited  for  two  days  in  a  fever  of 
excitement  for  some  mandate  from  his  artful 
patroness.  "She  is  a  sly  one  at  heart,  after  all,  is 
Mme.  Elaine,"  he  growled.  "Her  stay  'at  Pittsburg' 
is  only  to  throw  me  off  my  guard,  and  perhaps 
Hathorn. 

"She may  have  taken  any  one  of  a  dozen  short  roads 
to  steal  back  from  her  rendezvous  with  her  senatorial 
confidant.  Friend  or  lover — which?" 


148  IN  THE  SWIM. 

He  groaned  in  helpless  rage.  His  mean  spirit,  his 
hidden  vicious  agnosticism,  made  him  doubt  every 
woman. 

To  him  they  were  .all  the  same !  The  biting  words 
of  that  crooked,  malignant  genius,  Pope,  came  back : 
"Every  woman  is  at  heart  a  rake.  " 

4 'By  Jove!  I  have  found  them  all  to  be  living  behind 
imitation  fronts,"  he  snarled. 

He  was  seated  in  his  office  watching  the  pale-faced 
and  silent  Mary  Kelly,  when  a  street  messenger 
arrived  with  a  card  sealed  in  an  ordinary  telegraph 
envelope. 

It  bore  only  these  words,  scrawled  by  the  artful 
Frenchwoman :  ' '  Come  over  to  the  room. ' ' 

Stealing  a  watchful  glance  at  the  silent  girl  in  the 
office,  Vreeland  hastened  away.  He  had  never  been 
able  to  approach  the  slightest  intimacy  with  the 
gray-eyed  Irish-American  girl. 

"Her  convent  shyness  backs  up  her  convent 
modesty, ' '  sneered  Vreeland,  who  dared  not  covertly 
insult  his  patroness'  protege. 

Plaintively  handsome,  her  steadfast  eyes  gleaming 
with  a  patient  resignation,  the  pale  cheeks  and 
slender  form  told  of  a  life  of  semi-invalidism.  When 
not  employed  on  her  fashionable  master's  business, 
she  was  ever  busied  copying  literary  manuscripts  or 
legal  documents. 

"She's  another  cool  hand,"  vulgarly  imagined  the 
upstart  schemer. 

"She  knows  that  she  is  safe  as  long  as  Mrs.  Wil- 
loughby  is  at  the  other  end  of  that  private  wire. 

"But,  perhaps  this  Daly,  the  Roundsman,  may 
some  day  bring  a  glow  to  those  cheeks.  They  are 


IN  THE  SWIM.  149 

all  alike — mistress  and  maid — here  in  hot-hearted, 
wicked  New  York. 

"This  one's  only  a  neat,  sly  little  sneak,  and  a  spy 
on  me. " 

Vreeland's  every  nerve  was  tingling  as  he  dashed 
up  the  stairs  to  Justine's  nest  on  South  Fifth  Avenue. 

Standing  ready  for  instant  departure,  the  excited 
girl  told  him  of  how  she  had  stolen  away  while  her 
fatigued  mistress  slept. 

"You  will  hear  from  her  at  once — probably  to 
come  up  to-night.  Now,  once  for  all,  there  is  no  love 
between  them.  I  found  my  way  as  usual.  Only  busi 
ness — great  business — MONEY  AFFAIRS — the  play  of  the 
stocks.  He  is  to  come  up  in  a  month  and  bring  a  new 
Senator  from  the  West. 

"One  of  the  secret  friends;  so,  mon  ami,  you  may 
soon  have  another  rival. ' ' 

Vreeland  gnashed  his  teeth  as  the  girl  said:  "They 
dined  together — alone — and  talked  for  hours.  Senator 
Alynton  gave  her  a  paper  after  they  had  talked  about 
the  Government,  about  lawsuits  and  troubles,  and 
that  I  sewed  up  in  her  corset  for  her  in  her  presence 
before  we  left.  Brother  and  sister  they  are,  in  friend 
ship,  but  he  never  even  raised  her  hand  to  his  lips. 
Elle  est  bien  bete,  trap  bete,  pour  I 'amour!"  was  Jus 
tine's  parting  fling. 

"You  and  I  must  get  that  paper,  or  a  copy  of  it.  It's 
our  fortune!"  he  cried.  But,  Justine  had  fled,  only 
adding:  "She  saw  no  other  man.  She  only  went 
there  to  meet  Alynton.  Now,  back  to  your  rooms. 
She  will  soon  call  for  you. " 

Justine  was  a  true  prophetess,  for  while  Vreeland 
sat  in  his  rooms  immersed  in  the  study  of  a  dozen 
newspaper  articles  upon  an  ominous  flurry  in  the 


150  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"Sugar"  securities,  the  lame  girl  tapped  at  his  door. 
With  a  bow,  she  handed  him  the  transcribed  telephone 
message:  "Please  come  up  at  once.  Very  import 
ant.  " 

"Compliments,  and  say  that  I'll  leave  instantly," 
gravely  replied  Vreeland,  without  lifting  his  head. 

As  he  hurried  on  toward  the  Circassia,  he  endeavored 
to  frame  some  idea  of  the  daring  woman  speculator's 
plans. 

There  were  rumors  of  unfavorable  tariff  action,  of 
hostile  legislation,  of  adverse  decisions  of  the  courts 
to  be  expected,  of  a  growing  agitation  against  the 
"Sugar  Trust,"  and  even  of  the  desire  of  the  great 
Standard  Oil  Company  to  force  the  value  of  "Sugar 
shares"  down  by  the  pressure  of  their  heavily-armed 
capitalistic  secret  brokers,  and  to  "gobble"  a  control 
ling  interest,  or  at  least  the  bulk  of  the  heavy  holdings. 

"This  surely  means  a  slaughter  of  the  little  fishes," 
mused  Vreeland. 

Rumors  of  a  reincorporation  of  the  seventy-five 
million  dollar  capitalized  company  in  New  Jersey, 
the  threatened  move  to  divide  its  capital  stock  into 
common  and  preferred,  were  rife  on  the  Street. 

"Ah!"  growled  Vreeland,  as  he  glanced  over  a 
tabulated  statement  of  the  ratings  since  its  organiza 
tion.  "This  may  either  send  the  stock,  now  at 
seventy,  down  to  forty  or  fifty,  or  up  to  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five.  If  I  only  knew?" 

He  laughed  mockingly  as  he  dismissed  the  subject. 
"It  will  only  be  double  or  quits." 

"Double  their  wealth  for  the  insiders — and  quits 
for  the  poor  devils  squeezed  to  the  wall ! ' '  While  he 
waited  in  the  drawing-room  for  his  patroness,  the 
woman  whom  he  began  to  fear  he  never  would  make 


IN  THE  SWIM.  151 

his  dupe  or  slave,  he  pondered  over  her  real  purposes 
in  the  vast  hidden  speculations. 

"Has  she  not  already  money  enough?"  he  enviously 
thought,  gazing  on  the  heaped-up  splendors  of 
costly  taste  around  him.  And  then,  he  remembered 
that  he  had  never  met  any  man,  woman,  or  child  in 
New  York  City  who  had  money  enough. 

4 'It's  the  fashionable  craze — money-getting,  by  hook 
or  crook, ' '  he  reflected. 

"And  once  mixed  up  in  the  game,  it's  hard  for  her 
to  leave  it,  especially  if  she  is  the  go-between  who 
links  some  of  the  nation's  statesmen  to  the  great 
insiders  of  the  Trust. 

"This  home  may  be  only  a  sham,  Lakemere  only  a 
way  station  for  the  friendly  conspirators,  and  that 
paper  may  be  a  dangerous  document  which  neither 
side  would  dare  to  hold.  And  old  Endicott,  too — 
what's  his  role?" 

He  was  the  more  interested  as  Justine  had  swept 
away  all  suspicions  of  an  amourette  between  the  two 
whom  he  feared. 

"Still  there  is  the  lost  child.  If  I  only  knew  how 
old  the  girl  was,"  he  fretted. 

"It  may  be  the  child  of  the  last  decade,  or  the  fruit 
of  a  girlish  marriage.  That  secret,  and  the  paper,  I 
nmst  have. 

"But,  Justine  must  steal  the  one,  and  I  have  got  to 
reach  her  line  of  secret  communications. ' ' 

As  he  met  his  calmly-smiling  secret  employer  he 
could  not  divine  the  revengeful  purposes  hidden 
under  her  gently-heaving  bosom. 


152  IN  THE  SWIM. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
MISS  ROMAINE  GARLAND,  STENOGRAPHER. 

It  was  late  that  night  when  the  excited  Vreeland  left 
the  Circassia  and  he  was  still  somewhat  in  the  dark  as 
to  the  real  object  of  his  veiled  employment.  He 
reasoned  justly  that  there  was  not  a  grain  of  sentiment 
now  in  the  frankly  defined  relations  between  himself 
and  the  Lady  of  Lakemere. 

The  money  bond  between  them  was  only  that  cold 
one  of  employer  and  employed,  and  the  unmistakable 
dignity  of  Elaine's  business  manner  held  him  decidedly 
aloof.  Here  was  no  lover's  thrall. 

Not  a  single  reference  to  her  absence  had  escaped 
her  lips.  There  was  no  pleasant,  social  white-lying 
going  on  between  them,  and  he  was  still  in  the  dark 
when  he  left,  with  the  strictest  orders  to  await  every 
moment  between  ten  and  three,  her  signal  for  the 
beginning  of  stock  operations  of  gigantic  magnitude. 

"This  Sugar  stock  may  pay  twelve  and  seven  per 
cent  on  common  and  preferred  in  a  year,  or  else  be 
driven  down  to  half  price.  We  must  be  wary,"  she 
sighed.  "No  one  can  truly  forecast  the  actions  of  our 
courts,  journals,  electors  or  government,"  she  mused. 
"The  very  principle  of  reckless  instability  is  the  one 
sure  thing  of  all  our  American  doings." 

"And  yet,  you  move  along  with  the  others, 
Madonna, ' '  smilingly  said  Vreeland. 

"You  shall  see,"  she  laughed.  "The  stock  market, 
the  sea,  and  a  woman's  heart  are  never  at  rest. 
Always  distrust  the  seeming  calm. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  153 

"Now,"  her  voice  became  grave,  "you  are  to  be, 
each  instant,  ready  at  the  post  of  duty.  You  will  per 
sonally  telephone  your  orders  as  received  from  me  to 
your  buyer.  The  bank  will  then  telephone  me  the 
deliveries  of  the  stock,  and  I  will  telephone  you  to  pay 
over  each  cheque  myself. 

"The  thing  is  to  be  reversed  in  sales,  when  you  have 
received  certified  cheques  to  your  name  as  trustee, 
for  any  sales,  you  are  then  to  telephone  down  your 
delivery  order  to  be  confirmed  by  me,  after  you  have 
brought  me  the  cheques.  I  have  a  private  wire  to  the 
cashier,  remember. 

"But,  above  all,  silence.  You  are  now  suspected  of 
being  a  daring  and  a  lucky  speculator.  You  will  be 
watched. 

"Therefore,  go  out  everywhere  in  society  during 
the  next  three  weeks.  Show  yourself  as  gay  and  jolly 
as  you  can. 

' '  I  am  also  handling  some  other  very  heavy  matters, 
and  I  wish  you,  just  now,  to  be  particularly  thought 
the  gayest  reveler  in  Gotham. 

"In  exhibiting  yourself  everywhere,  the  gossips  will 
cease  to  watch  us  jointly  and  our  different  purposes 
will  be  divided  in  the  public  eye. 

"Miss  Kelly's  record  of  each  day's  transactions  will 
be  your  warrant.  She  comes  to  me  nightly  to  report. " 

Vreeland  was  overjoyed  as  he  received  Mrs.  Wil- 
loughby's  hearty  approval  of  his  employing  a  personal 
stenographer. 

"If  you  get  the  right  person,"  said  his  patroness, 
"she  may  be  a  pleasant  companion  for  my  trusted  little 
Mary." 

When  he  had  raised  the  lady's  hand  to  his  lips  and 
departed  he  realized  how  sternly  he  was  being  kept  out 


154  IN  THE  SWIM. 

of  her  real  councils.  Even  the  vainest  fool  could  not 
have  deceived  himself. 

"It's  the  payment  of  money,  the  changing  of  coin 
between  us,  that  simply  makes  me  only  an  upper 
servant,"  he  snarled. 

"Once  that  money  passes  between  man  and  woman, 
in  any  relation,  there  is  an  end  of  any  free  will.  But, 
I  can  wait.  And,  you  shall  pay  me,  Madame,  to  the 
uttermost,  when  you  are  in  my  power." 

He  knew  the  probable  magnitude  of  the  transactions 
and,  even  his  iron  nerve  was  shaken. 

"It  cannot  be  merely  herself,  it  is  the  grouped  official 
cowards  behind  her,  who  are  making  money  on  the 
sly." 

He  found  a  new  surprise  awaiting  him  at  his  rooms, 
one  which  brought  the  blood  to  his  heart  with  a  sud 
den  surge.  There  was  a  bunch  of  red  roses  awaiting 
him  with  a  sealed  note.  He  knew  not  the  handwrit 
ing,  but,  his  eyes  gleamed  with  a  strange  fire  as  he  read : 

"The  Lady  of  the  Red  Rose  will  visit  you  at  ten 
to-morrow  night.  Remember  your  promise.  Fail  not. 
She  will  be  veiled  and  dressed  in  black.  Be  alone. 
And,  at  your  door,  at  ten. ' ' 

"They  are  all  the  same,"  he  gasped,  with  a  wildly 
beating  heart,  "under  the  rose,  lurks  always  some  wild 
intrigue,  some  desperate  game. 

"Life  in  New  York  is  only  a  game  of  catch  who 
catch  can." 

And,  when  the  sunset  of  the  next  day  came,  Mr. 
Harold  Vreeland  had  dispatched  the  acute  Bagley  to 
Boston  with  a  "valuable  package"  to  be  deposited  in  a 
Safe  Deposit  Company  there,  and  he  was  seated  in  his 
own  room  gazing  tenderly  upon  the  crimsoned  flowers 
whose  mute  incense  filled  the  air. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  155 

The  crawling  hands  of  the  clock  were  a  torture  to 
the  man  whose  darkest  purpose  was  now  hidden 
behind  a  smiling  face — for  it  is  not  often  given,  even 
to  a  smooth  scoundrel,  to  betray  two  women  at  once. 
He  was  swimming  in  a  sea  of  glory,  now. 

Vreeland  slept  but  little  after  his  conference  with  his 
resolute  and  beautiful  patroness.  He  had  scanned  her 
face  keenly  to  see  the  "sweet  unrest  of  Love,"  or  the 
play  of  a  hidden  passion  written  there,  but  all  that  the 
keen  schemer  could  discern  was  the  calmness  of  a 
settled  purpose,  the  poise  of  an  unshaken  self-control. 

' '  She  has  either  no  heart,  or  else,  a  marvelous  power 
of  dissimulation,"  he  wearily  decided.  He  felt  that 
she  was  playing  some  great  hidden  game  in  which  he 
was  but  a  mere  pawn,  a  poor  private  soldier  in  the  fight. 

"It's  a  waiting  game,"  he  rightly  concluded,  "but,  it 
is  for  vengeance,  or  a  fight  to  cover  up  her  clouded 
past." 

He  knew  now  that  Elaine  Willoughby  was  victorious 
over  her  young  social  enemy  at  every  point  of  the  field. 
For,  the  house  of  Hathorn  was  known  to  be  divided 
against  itself,  and  the  once  magnificent  Frederick's 
careworn  brow  showed  a  sullen  discontent. 

Hathorn 's  disgruntled  face  was  now  too  often 
reflected  in  the  mirrors  of  the  Cafe"  Savarin  bar;  he 
was  shunned  at  the  clubs  even  by  the  young  flaneurs 
who  had  now  gone  over  bodily  to  Mrs.  Willoughby, 
and  the  little  Sunday  afternoon  stances  at  Mrs.  Alida 
Hathorn 's  became  noted  for  their  daring  camaraderie 
and  the  "high  class  vaudeville"  enacted  there. 

Hathorn  was  now  more  frequently  absent  from  town 
"upon  business,"  and  Vreeland  wrongly  suspected 
him  of  tracing  down  the  past  antecedents  of  "his 
dearest  foe." 


156  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"What  the  old  Harry  did  she  throw  him  over  and 
pick  me  up  for?"  he  vainly  pondered.  "She  may 
have  found  him  creeping  too  closely  on  her  track  and 
perhaps  she  feared  him. 

"To  cut  the  cord,  she  has  pushed  him  out,  and, 
pensioned  him  off  on  Alida. 

"But,  what  chilling  spectre  of  the  past  affrights  her? 
That  I  can  only  reach  by  tapping  her  secret  lines. 

"I  must  get  in  between  Endicott  and  her.  I  must 
find  out  her  relations  with  the  Sugar  Trust,  and  also 
get  at  the  underground  railroad  to  the  chamber 
where  the  first  news  of  the  secret  operations  of  the 
'Senate  Finance  Committee'  makes  her  the  witch  of 
the  Street. 

"She  is  a  sly  one.  She  may  be  trading  coldly  on 
the  secrets  of  the  Sugar  magnates,  possibly  selling 
out  her  senatorial  friends  and  betraying  old  Endi 
cott 's  banking  connections. 

"Her  social  entertainments,  those  little  confidences 
of  the  '  pearl  boudoir, '  give  her  a  safe  chance  to  play 
these  men  off,  the  one  against  the  other." 

Vreeland's  San  Francisco  experience,  his  analytical 
brain,  and  his  quick  wit,  had  enabled  him  in  his 
few  months  of  New  York  stock  speculating,  to 
quietly  pick  up  every  trick  of  the  "put,  call  and 
straddle,"  every  dark  cross  of  the  bucket-shop  infamy, 
every  "dummy"  subterfuge  used  in  "shearing  the 
sheep." 

He  knew  now  every  mystery  of  "doubled  trades," 
"crossing  trades,"  and  "wiping  out  a  margin." 

"She  has  evidently  never  trusted  me  for  a  single 
moment,  and,  has  covered  her  right  hand,  while  she 
has  played  me  as  a  'left  bower.'  " 

It  dawned  upon  him  that  she  perhaps,  like  David, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  157 

said  in  her  heart,  "All  men  are  liars."  That  her 
"developing  process"  with  Fred  Hathorn  had  made 
her  "sadly  wise,"  and  that  she  was  "trying  him  out" 
now  at  every  distance,  before  making  him  a  champion. 

He  had,  however,  preserved  the  same  even,  devoted 
watchful  courtesy,  and  he  was  wise  enough  not  to  try 
to  jump  blindly  from  "seed  time"  to  harvest.  "She 
has  not  opened  her  heart  to  me ;  if  she  ever  marries 
me,  it  will  only  be  when  she  is  driven  to  my  arms. 

"But,  I  can  wait." 

And,  so,  never  having  dipped  deeper  into  any  true 
woman's  heart  than  the  light-winged  swallow  brush 
ing  the  lake,  he  forgot  that  he  was  not  true  to  her. 
He  knew  not  the  force  of  those  ringing  lines  of  "A 
Fo'castle  Ballad": 

"If  you're  good  to  her,  she's  good  to  you! 
For  a  woman's  square,  if  you  treat  her  right!" 

The  morning  found  the  energetic  Mr.  Harold  Vree- 
land  in  close  conference  with  the  thin-lipped  Miss 
Marble,  of  "Marble's  Business  Agency,"  near  that 
dingy  little  square  where  Greeley  in  bronze  gazes 
vacantly  down  at  his  own  feet,  awed  by  the  stony 
glare  of  the  New  York  Herald's  singularly  inartistic 
owls. 

The  wary  woman  broker  had  listened  in  silence  to 
the  young  banker's  long  description  of  his  need  of  an 
accomplished  "private  secretary." 

She  flushed  slightly  when  Vreeland  mentioned  the 
Elmleaf  as  the  scene  of  the  varied  "labors. " 

The  quiet  orgies  of  that  "whited  sepulchre"  were 
now  the  theme  of  much  whispered  comment  over  the 
whole  Tenderloin. 

There  were  other  "rising  men"  besides  Harold 
Vreeland  burning  the  candle  of  Life  at  both  ends  there 


158  IN  THE  SWIM. 

and  covertly  reenacting  the  lurid  scenes  of  old  Monte 
Tiberio,  and  infamous  Baise. 

"Expense  is  no  object,  my  dear  Miss  Marble,"  softly 
purred  Vreeland.  "I  fancy  you  know  now  what  I 
want.  I  would  prefer  a  capable  young  woman  who  is 
a  stranger  to  New  York  City. 

"One  who  has  been  accustomed  to  refinement.  My 
private  correspondence  is  largely  social. ' ' 

The  handsome  scoundrel's  eye  sunk  under  the 
keen  woman's  direct  thrust. 

"There  may  be  an  objection  on  the  part  of  the 
young  lady,  your  social  surroundings  are  of  the 
gayest. ' ' 

Miss  Marble  was  already  familiar  through  the 
"blanket  sheets,"  with  the  comet-like  cavorting  of 
the  young  Western  star  in  these  Eastern  skies. 

"There  is  a  business  secretary,  always  there  on 
duty,  an  exemplary  young  woman  now  in  my  employ, 
so,  you  can  dismiss  all  your  fears,"  insidiously 
remarked  Vreeland,  "and,  for  the  right  person,  I  will 
pay  you  any  commission  that  you  ask." 

The  e}res  of  the  two  adroit  schemers  met. 

"I  want  a  woman  whom  I  can  train  up  into  my  own 
ways,"  meaningly  said  Vreeland.  "I  think  that  you 
understand  me,  now." 

The  pale-green  eyes  of  Miss  Marble  shone  with  glee 
at  the  prospect  of  some  other  woman  "with  reluctant 
feet" going  blindly  on  to  the  thirty-third  degree  initia 
tion  of  the  hard  ways  of  New  York. 

"I  do,  perfectly,"  she  replied,  her  thin,  pitiless  lips 
pressed  closely  together. 

"How  shall  I  select  the  one  who  is  best  fitted  to  suit 
you?' '  Her  voice  was  slightly  shaky. 

"  Easy  enough, "  lightly  cried  Vreeland,  reaching  for 


IN  THE  SWIM.  159 

his  hat  and  cane.  "Take  two  or  three  days.  Go  over 
the  whole  field  of  your  most  promising  applicants. 
Have  say,  four  or  five  of  them  here  to  meet  me  when 
you  are  ready. 

"You  can  indicate  the  one  whom  you  would  prefer. 
Find  out  all  their  private  histories,  as  far  as  you  can  get 
at  it, ' '  he  uneasily  laughed. 

"I  will  call  in,  of  course,  by  hazard,  and  then  take  a 
look  at  them.  You  can  then  have  the  one  whom  we 
decide  upon,  meet  me  as  your  only  candidate.  The 
rest  you  can  leave  to  me.  If  the  first  one  is  not  suit 
able,  we  will  follow  on  down  the  list. 

"Remember,  salary  is  no  object.  I  am  liberal  in  all 
things,  especially,  as  to  your  commission. ' ' 

For  once  in  her  artful  career,  Miss  Joanna  Marble 
infused  a  real  warmth  into  the  clasp  of  her  clammy 
hand. 

For  these  two  read  between  the  lines  of  each  other's 
impassive  faces. 

"A  very  fine  man — the  sort  of  man  likely  in  time,  to 
get  shot  or  lynched,  down  South, ' '  mused  the  veteran 
Miss  Marble,  "as  near  a  sleek  human  wolf  in  sheep's 
clothing  as  they  put  them  up. " 

And,  then,  Joanna  Marble  carefully  indited  a  drag 
net  advertisement  which  next  day  brought  a  shoal 
of  young  womanhood  to  the  breakers  of  her  woman 
trap. 

There  was  "the  solemn  silence  of  the  night,"  the 
"speaking  silence  of  a  dream,"  at  ten  o'clock,  as  the 
waiting  Harold  Vreeland  listened  with  a  beating  heart 
behind  the  portals  of  his  aerial  den  in  the  Elmleaf. 

That  gliding  step  came  at  last.  "Soft  as  the  dews 
that  fell  that  night,"  was  the  footfall  of  the  Lady  of 

the  Red  Rose  when  tres  discretement  vetue.  in  shrouding 
11 


160  IN  THE  SWIM. 

black,  with  her  face  swathed  in  an  impermeable  veil, 
Alida  Hathorn  glided  into  his  room,  and  coolly  threw 
aside  her  hat  and  wraps. 

The  flowers  and  ornate  wealth  of  decorations  made 
the  room  a  very  dream  of  luxury.  Vreeland  sprang 
forward  when  he  had  locked  the  door,  but  the  burning 
words  of  tenderness  on  his  lips  were  stayed  as  a  slen 
der,  uplifted  arm  stopped  him.  The  visitor's  face  was 
impassive. 

"Not  yet.  We  must  understand  each  other,"  was 
the  whisper  which  sounded  like  the  voice  of  a  lost  soul. 
It  was,  with  a  fatal  overreaching,  that  Vreeland  mur 
mured,  "This  is  hardly  the  place  for  a  business 
interview. ' ' 

"I  know  it,"  stolidly  said  Alida  Hathorn,  turning  to 
ward  him  a  face  whose  burning  eyes  thrilled  him  to  his 
bosom's  core.  "You  have  as  much  to  lose  as  I  have, 
perhaps  more. 

"My  life  is  ruined, "  she  gloomily  said.  "We  will 
play  fair  to-night,  you  and  I,  with  the  cards  on  top 
the  table.  I  know  all  your  game — you  shall  now  know 
mine.  And,  I  presume  that  both  of  us  are  willing  to 
pay  the  price. ' ' 

A  French  clock  ticked  away  in  the  awkward  silence, 
and  then,  Vreeland,  a  master  of  woman's  moods, 
quietly  seated  himself  beside  the  excited  woman,  and 
took  her  burning  palms  in  his  own. 

"Tell  me  what  your  will  is.  It  shall  be  my  law,"  he 
simply  said. 

Alida  Hathorn  coldly  studied  his  face  for  a  moment. 
* '  I  will  soon  test  your  sincerity, ' '  she  answered.  ' '  I  will 
tear  off  the  lying  mask  we  all  wear  for  a  moment,  and 
let  you  see  the  real  woman  behind  the  society  veneer. 

"I  have  found  out  that  my  husband  is  only  a  reck- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  161 

less  stock  gambler,  a  man  who  coldly  married  me 
simply  as  'means  to  an  end.  *  He  is  half  crazed  by  his 
loss  of  influence  in  the  Street. 

"He  has  lately  established  secret  branches  of  his 
house  in  Buffalo,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  Chicago 
and  Montreal. 

"There  seems  to  have  been  some  devil  crossing  him 
everywhere,  and,  he  has  also  fought  out  a  silent  duel 
to  the  death  with  Elaine  Willoughby,  who  has  torn 
the  old  firm  to  pieces. ' ' 

Vreeland  was  now  watching  her  with  gleaming  eyes. 

"Wolfe  has  nothing  whatever  to  lose.  My  husband 
insists  that  I  shall  back  the  firm  (practically  himself), 
and,  he  swears  that  you  are  the  most  successful  man 
on  the  Street.  He  knows  of  all  your  individual 
plunging. 

"And  he  knows,  too,  that  you  are  'on  the  inside  ' 
of  the  great  Sugar  deals,  the  Oil  Company's  intrigues, 
and,  are  first  favorite  now  since  Hathorn  married. ' ' 

Her  voice  rang  out  bitterly  as  she  buried  her  face  in 
her  hands.  "A  woman's  capacity  of  resistance  has  its 
limits. 

"I  come  to  you  to-night  for  help.  I  will  make  one 
last  effort  to  break  him  of  his  mad  folly,  or  else,  leave 
him  to  his  fate. 

"When  he  is  penniless,  he  may  follow  me  over  to 
Europe.  He,  at  least,  will  be  a  husband,  in  name;  a 
protection  against  the  foreign  society  mob,  over  there. " 
Her  voice  was  bitterly  hard. 

Vreeland  began  to  murmur  platitudes. 

The  beautiful  woman's  eyes  flashed.  "Don't  dis 
semble.  You  shall  know  what  I  want!"  she  cried, 
pacing  the  room  in  her  rising  agitation. 

* '  There  is  an  ominous  look  in  the  Sugar  market.  You 
ii 


i6z  IN  THE  SWIM. 

will  go  into  the  deal  on  a  sure  basis.  Open  your  heart 
to  me  to-night,  for  my  own  sake.  Give  me  your  game 
for  the  next  week.  Let  me  copy  it.  I  will  make  just 
one  turn  for  him.  If  you  only  play  fair,  I  may  save 
him.  It  may  bring  me  peace. 

"If  Hathorn  will  not  be  ruled,  then  my  future  life 
will  b&  my  own.  I  depend  on  you — on  your  honor,  on 
your  pledges  made  to  me,  at  the  Waldorf  and  the 
Savoy.  I  have  come  to  you,  here,  fearlessly.  What 
is  your  answer?" 

They  were  facing  each  other,  as  Vreeland  hoarsely 
whispered,  "And,  my  reward?"  The  woman' s  warring 
soul  shone  in  her  eyes. 

"Let  me  know  first  that  I  can  trust  you,"  she  whis 
pered  with  ashen  lips.  "Trust  to  me,  and,  remember 
a  woman's  gratitude  can  overpay.  Drive  no  hard 
bargain  with  me." 

In  a  moment,  Harold  Vreeland,  on  his  pinnacle  of 
sudden  prosperity,  saw  the  gulf  yawning  before  him. 
"If  Elaine  should  find  it  out."  He  bowed  his  head, 
but  the  truth  stole  into  his  lying  face. 

"Is  it  possible  that  you  are  a  coward?"  cried  Alida 
Hathorn.  "You  would  flinch  before  the  woman  who 
has  come  to  you  here — here,  at  your  bidding.  I  believed 
that  we  both  were  ready  to  pay  the  price. "  He  sprang 
to  her  side,  in  answer  to  the  invitation  of  her  eyes. 

"Listen,"  he  whispered.  "I  will,  so  help  me  God, 
give  you  all  the  duplicate  orders  of  my  private  account 
for  the  next  two  weeks.  But,  to  you,  alone. ' ' 

He  listened,  and  was  astounded  at  her  daring  plan  to 
receive  his  betrayal  of  the  confidence  of  a  woman  who 
had  been  her  bane,  and  yet,  he  yielded  to  the  charm 
at  last. 

The  echo  of  her  departing  foot  on  the  stair  left  him 


IN  THE  SWIM.  163 

stunned  and  breathless  at  his  own  unwitting  self- 
surrender.  For,  caught  off  his  guard,  he  had  left  the 
vantage-ground  which  he  proposed  to  hold. 

"In  any  case,  neither  of  us  will  dare  to  speak. 
There  is  ruin  staring  us  both  in  the  face,  and,  we 
should  play  fair.  Fear  is  a  wise  counselor,"  she  had 
frankly  said.  He  trembled  before  her  moonlight  eyes, 
burning  in  a  wild  unrest. 

She  had  dominated  him  at  the  last,  and,  swept  away 
an  unscarred  victor. 

Three  days  of  wild  excitement  followed  the  noctur 
nal  visit  of  the  Lady  of  the  Red  Rose.  Vreeland  was 
unable  to  leave  his  apartment  even  for  a  moment  to 
meet  Justine,  his  busy  spy,  or  to  respond  to  the  urgent 
invitation  of  Miss  Joanna  Marble,  who  had  telegraphed 
to  him:  "I  have  found  the  very  woman  you  want.  A 
perfect  stranger,  and,  a  beauty. ' ' 

In  the  haste  of  his  feverish  stock  gambling,  he  had 
only  time  to  order  this  happily  discovered  nonpareil  to 
await  his  pleasure. 

"Keep  her  with  you.  Give  her  a  month's  salary,  in 
advance.  Accept  my  check  sent  by  messenger  as 
your  commission.  Will  call  soon. "  So  he  had  tele 
graphed  in  reply  to  the  adroit  Miss  Marble,  and 
dashed  off  a  check  for  a  round  sum — a  sum  which 
clearly  indicated  to  the  overjoyed  Miss  Marble,  the 
nature  of  the  "discretionary  advice"  which  she  was  to 
give  to  the  beautiful  neophyte  in  New  York's  fiercest 
glitter. 

Harold  Vreeland,  with  a  pale  face,  sat  on  watch  in 
his  own  room,  his  eyes  glued  upon  the  features  of 
Mary  Kelly  as  she  recorded  each  momentous  message 
from  the  strange  woman  at  the  Circassia  who  was  now 
playing  a  gigantic  game. 


164  IN  THE  SWIM. 

An  influx  of  bank  and  stock  private  confidential 
messengers,  the  evening  conferences  with  Elaine  Wil- 
loughby,  and  a  breathless  study  of  check  book  stubs 
"delivery  and  statements,"  pressed  him,  while  the 
pale-faced  woman  near  him,  cut  out  every  lurid  article 
of  the  daily  journals  describing  the  cyclonic  rise  and 
fall  of  the  price  of  Sugar  Certificates  now  heaving  in 
a  storm  of  unrest  as  sweeping  as  the  Bay  of  Fundy's 
tides. 

Below,  in  the  noisy  street,  the  newsboys  bawled 
"extras, "while  all  the  hotels,  clubs  and  money  marts 
were  thronged  with  excited  babblers. 

For  three  days,  the  corridors  of  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange  were  crowded  with  men  whose  vulpine 
faces  were  either  hardened  by  despair,  or  else  excitedly 
gleaming  with  the  flush  of  victory. 

Broad  and  Wall  streets  were  filled  with  excited 
crowds,  while  in  the  galleries,  the  clients,  reporters 
and  money-betting  public  watched  the  members  on  the 
floor  struggling  over  Sugar. 

From  ten  to  three  daily  the  heat  of  battle  was  on, 
and,  even  after  dark  the  duels  of  winner  and  loser 
were  transferred  "uptown." 

In  the  Consolidated  Petroleum  and  Stock  Exchange 
a  mad  riot  reigned,  intensified  by  the  vociferous 
dealings  of  the  crowding  "curb-stone"  brokers. 

With  a  cowardice  newly  born  of  his  mean  treason, 
Harold  Vreeland  trembled  as  he  crept  out  of  the 
"Elmleaf, "  during  the  three  days  to  steal  into  a 
decorous-looking  private  residence  near,  where  from 
ten  to  three  with  her  eyes  glittering  with  a  fierce 
excitement,  Alida  Hathorn  sat  in  a  rear  parlor,  guarded 
by  the  all  too  accommodating  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris 
cozily  esconced  upstairs. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  165 

But  the  schemer  well  knew  that  Hathorn  was  a  lead 
ing  figure  in  the  downtown  melee  where  ' '  Sugar' '  had 
been  steadily  hammered  down  from  "seventy"  to 
"fifty"  under  tremendous  sales.  Every  conceivable 
disaster  had  been  suddenly  "materialized"  around  the 
standard  of  the  hitherto  strongly  upheld  monopoly. 

It  was  on  Friday,  at  one  o'clock,  that  Vreeland,  awe 
struck,  added  up  his  scheduled  statement  of  sales,  on 
ten-day  delivery  terms.  It  amounted  to  nearly  twenty 
thousand  shares,  and  the  total  of  the  transactions 
astounded  him. 

He  had  just  stolen  in  to  report  the  last  order  to 
Alida  Hathorn,  a  sale  of  a  thousand  shares,  and  she 
had  gleefully  whispered,  "You  have  already  handled 
twenty,  but  I  have  turned  forty  thousand  shares,  and 
I've  now  reached  my  limit.  If  it  goes  down  ten  dollars 
more,  we  can  cover  all  our  contracts  and  clear  nearly 
a  half  million  dollars. " 

Vreeland 's  eyes  opened  in  wonder,  as  he  saw  the 
file  of  waiting  messengers  in  her  gallery,  and  a  cipher 
book  at  her  side.  He  fled  away  in  silence. 

At  the  door  of  his  room,  he  was  seized  by  Mary 
Kelly,  her  white  hands  trembling.  "She  is  there 
now  at  the  instrument,  calling  you — hasten." 

Bold,  intrigant,  as  he  was,  Vreeland  paled,  and  the 
blood  left  his  heart  as  he  listened  to  Elaine  Wil- 
lotighby's  last  orders.  It  was  a  most  momentous  mes 
sage.  "Telegraph  instantly  down  over  private  wire, 
to  Cashier  Mineralogical  Bank.  For  my  order,  buy  in, 
at  once — on  this  board — forty  thousand  shares  of  Sugar 
in  lots  of  one  to  five  thousand  shares.  Do  not  leave 
the  instrument  for  one  moment,  till  you  report  the 
execution  back  to  me.  Have  them  telegraph  to  you 
the  buying  rate  of  each  lot  and  report  when  all  is 


166  IN  THE  SWIM. 

bought  in.  Then  I  will  come  to  the  Waldorf  and  send 
over  for  you. 

"I  will  sign  the  checks  myself  there  at  the  hotel. 
Keep  the  messengers  there  in  your  room  with  the 
stocks,  I  have  suite  No.  700  in  the  hotel." 

Mary  Kelly's  flying  fingers  had  recorded  the 
momentous  message  in  shorthand  as  it  fell  from 
Hathorn's  pallid  lips,  and,  her  fingers  then  pressed  the 
telegraph  key  with  lightning  rapidity.  Vreeland  was 
dazed.  "My  God,  this  is  ruin  for  her,"  he  whispered. 
It  was  of  the  Lady  of  the  Red  Rose  he  spoke. 

"You  must  sit  here,  sir,  and  record  for  me, "  cried 
the  girl.  "They  are  holding  me  on  the  wire."  The 
agony  of  hell  was  in  the  heart  of  the  entrapped  scoun 
drel. 

He  knew  that  his  whole  personal  future  now 
depended  on  executing  his  mistress'  behests  with  light 
ning  rapidity.  There  was  no  way  to  warn  Alida  Hat- 
horn.  He  dared  not  trust  Bagley — a  spy,  perhaps. 

One  hasty  sentence  of  explanation  and  he  sat  down 
at  the  table,  beside  the  girl,  while  far  away  at  the 
Circassia,  Elaine  Willoughby  eagerly  awaited  the 
warning  ring  of  the  telephone  bell.  In  three-quarters 
of  an  hour,  Vreeland  staggered  to  the  speaking  tube. 
"The  whole  order  is  covered,"  he  reported,  "opening 
price,  forty-nine;  closing  price,  seventy-three.  I  will 
await  you  here." 

With  a  sickening  heart,  the  would-be  traitor  watched 
Mary  Kelly  adding  up  the  scheduled  lots  and  aver 
aging  the  prices. 

"The  whole  forty  thousand  shares  average  us 
sixty-four  dollars,"  she  whispered,  pushing  the  paper 
over  to  him,  as  she  bent  over  her  clicking  key. 
"There  has  been  a  terrific  rise.  Failures  on  the 


IN  THE  SWIM.  167 

Street  are  reported.  Sugar  is  going  up  with  jumps. 
Market  practically  bare. ' ' 

"My  God!"  groaned  Vreeland,  as  he  hid  his  face 
for  a  few  moments  in  his  own  room. 

"This  will  be  her  ruin.  Poor  Alida.  Forty  thou 
sand  shares  left  to  cover,  means  a  loss  of  three-quarters 
of  a  million. ' ' 

And  then  his  own  white  face  stared  back  at  him,  in 
the  glass  as  his  trembling  lips  refused  to  frame  the 
question:  "Did  Elaine  know  of  his  treachery?"  For, 
it  seemed  that  his  sin  had  found  him  out. 

He  dared  not  even  for  a  single  moment  leave  the 
presence  of  the  girl  who  was  now  recording  each 
message  from  the  cashier  of  the  bank,  announcing  the 
departure  of  the  agents  with  each  lot  of  the  stocks  as 
bought  in. 

"Was  it  a  blind  pool  to  break  and  make  a  market?" 
he  queried. 

But,  he  found  no  time  to  steal  away  an  instant  from 
Mary  Kelly's  eyes  and  the  impassive  Bagley  who  stood 
waiting  to  conduct  him  to  Mrs.  Willoughby  at  the 
Waldorf.  ' '  I  am  watched, ' '  the  cowed  traitor  muttered. 

The  house  was  dark  where  Alida  Hathorn  had 
directed  her  secret  campaign  when  Vreeland,  under 
Bagley 's  escort,  returned  at  midnight  from  the  Wal 
dorf.  Vreeland  turned  his  eyes  away  in  a  sickening 
dread. 

The  only  remark  made  by  the  serene  Queen  of  the 
Street  was  a  commendation  of  his  promptness.  She 
was  graciously  cheerful.  "The  market  turned  upon 
us  so  quickly,  that  not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost," 
placidly  remarked  Elaine  Willoughby,  whose  pleasant 
smile  of  dismissal  followed  the  sending  up  of  a  card 
whereon  Vreeland  saw  the  words  "Hiram  Endicott. " 


i68  IN  THE  SWIM. 

But,  his  patroness  said,  "You  have  earned  a  week's  rest. 
I  can  now  give  you  that.  You  can  amuse  yourself 
for  a  week.  I  shall  stand  out  of  the  market.  You 
can  go  ahead  and  pick  up  the  threads  of  current  affairs 
down  town. 

"Remember,  not  a  word  of  this  to  Wyman.  It 
would  lead  to  our  instant  parting.  You  have  done 
well.  I  know  now  that  I  can  trust  to  you,  to  the  very 
last." 

Vreeland  shuddered  and  stole  away,  wearing  a  sickly 
smile.  The  night  had  new  terrors  for  him  now. 

All  that  long  night,  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  paced  his 
room,  waiting  for  the  morrow.  His  haggard  face 
was  gray  and  ashen  in  the  morning  dawn,  as  he  waited 
for  the  earliest  journals. 

And,  for  once,  the  brandy  bottle  was  his  friend. 

He  recalled  a  thousand  times  the  impassioned  face 
of  the  beautiful  woman  who  had  blindly  followed  his 
desperate  lead. 

' '  I  had  nothing  to  lose, ' '  he  mused.  ' '  This  fierce  play 
was  only  a  flurry  to  my  nerves,  but,  she  may  be 
wrecked.  And  if  she  should  now  turn  upon  me." 

He  did  not  dare  to  think  of  facing  her,  and  he  even 
feared  to  show  himself  in  Wall  Street  until  the  news  of 
his  beautiful  accomplice's  situation  should  reach  him. 

"Where  would  she  land  on  Life's  stormy  seas?"  He 
did  not  dare  to  face  the  ruin  he  had  wrought. 

An  occupation  for  his  morning  hours  suggested  itself. 
He  would  visit  Miss  Joanna  Marble,  and  so,  at  eleven 
o'clock,  he  was  seated  in  her  "Bureau,"  curiously 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  young  woman  who  was  to 
fill  the  lofty  position  of  "private  secretary"  to  the 
"star"  of  the  Elmleaf.  Leaning  out  of  the  window, 
he  beckoned  to  one  of  a  shouting  mob  of  newsboys  as 


IN  THE  SWIM.  169 

the  words  "Extra!  extra!  Failures  in  Wall  Street!" 
resounded  high  above  the  din  of  Herald  Square. 

Tossing  the  lad  a  half  dollar,  he  unfolded  the  still 
damp  sheet.  Among  the  glaring  headlines,  he  read, 
"Failure of  Hathorn  &  Wolfe.  Liabilities,  one  million 
dollars." 

He  sank  back  in  his  chair,  and  then,  seized  with  a 
sudden  impulse,  he  quickly  ran  downstairs  and  jumped 
into  a  coupe",  bidding  the  agent  detain  the  expected 
beauty. 

Some  indefinable  impulse  led  him  to  his  rooms, 
where  the  grave  Bagley  handed  him  a  telegraphic  dis 
patch.  He  tore  it  open  and  read  the  bitter  lines: 
"You  have  lied  and  basely  betrayed  me.  I  have  left 
America  forever.  I  leave  it  to  the  future  to  punish 
you."  The  signature,  "Red  Rose,"  was  that  of  a 
woman  who  was  sobbing  alone  in  her  stateroom  on 
the  Etruria,  as  she  glided  past  the  Narrows  on  this 
sunny  Saturday  morning. 

With  a  clouded  brow,  Vreeland  descended  the  stair 
and  at  the  street  door,  met  Mr.  Jimmy  Potter,  who 
whispered :  ' '  Fred  Hathorn  has  cleared  out  to  Havana 
— last  night — the  fool.  He  gouged  his  wife  out  of  half 
a  million. 

"I  saw  her  off  on  the  Etruria  to-day,  and  I'm  going 
to  save  what  I  can  for  her  out  of  the  wreck,  and, 
then  go  over  and  meet  her  in  Paris. 

"I  told  you  that  all  things  would  come  round  to  the 
man  who  waits. ' ' 

With  a  smothered  oath,  Vreeland  pushed  on,  glad  to 
escape  the  easy-going  tormentor  who  was  destined  to 
be  the  procJiain  ami  of  the  daring  Lady  of  the  Red 
Rose. 

He  dashed  away  to  Miss  Marble's  "Bureau,"  where 


17°  IN  THE  SWIM. 

his  eyes  gleamed  as  Miss  Joanna  led  him  into  her 
private  room.  Her  warning  glance  gave  him  the  key 
to  his  conduct. 

And  he  was  speechless  in  silent  rapture,  as  he  gazed 
upon  the  fresh  and  womanly  beauty  of ' '  Miss  Romaine 
Garland,  stenographer." 

"She  is  the  very  woman,"  he  mused.  "The  woman 
of  my  dreams. ' ' 

Afar,  uptown,  in  the  shaded  boudoir  of  her  pleasaunce 
palace,  Elaine  Willoughby  dropped  the  newspaper  from 
her  hands.  "I  am  safe  at  last.  He  is  a  criminal  fugi 
tive. 

"And,  now,  to  plead  to  God  for  the  return  of  my 
child." 


IN  THE  SWIM.  171 


CHAPTER   IX. 
SENATOR  ALYN TON'S  COLLEAGUE. 

An  exciting  month  had  slipped  away  after  the  sud 
den  Sugar  flurry  in  Wall  Street  which  had  filled 
its  gray  granite  channels  with  lame  and  dead  ducks. 

Seated  in  his  cozy  morning  room  at  the  "Elmleaf," 
Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  was  reflectively  watching  the 
snowflakes  whirled  by  a  March  storm  in  fluffy  white 
eddies,  and  furtively  gazing  askance  upon  the  beauti 
ful  face  of  Romaine  Garland  at  his  side. 

"Where  have  I  seen  that  face  before?"  he  mused,  as 
the  lovely  stenographer  arose  with  a  silent  bow,  and 
passed  through  the  half -open  door  to  seat  herself  at 
her  typewriting  table,  en  vis-a-vis  with  Mary  Kelly 
nodding  over  her  clicking  telegraph  instrument. 

There  was  ample  time  for  Vreeland  to  attend  to  his 
growing  personal  correspondence  intheselong  mornings 
when  he  awaited  the  next  secret  orders  of  his  patron 
ess.  But,  a  singular  social  and  speculative  lethargy 
now  seemed  to  have  seized  upon  Mrs.  Elaine  Wil- 
loughby.  The  nearness  of  Lent,  the  reaction  of  the 
giddy  winter  social  season,  and  the  cares  of  a  large 
property  all  contributed  to  keep  the  woman  who  had 
fought  Alida  Hathorn  to  a  finish,  out  of  the  garish 
glare  of  show  society. 

All  the  news  that  Vreeland  could  gain  from  the 
watchful  Doctor  Alberg  and  the  pliant  Justine  was, 
that  the  Lady  of  Lakemere  was  seemingly  drifting 
into  a  settled  melancholy.  Vreeland  was  astonished 
at  the  dead  water  into  which  he  himself  had  glided. 


172  IN  THE  SWIM. 

His  afternoons  were  regularly  spent  now  at  the  Wall 
Street  office,  where  Wyman  was  busied  with  the 
"legitimate." 

It  had  been  Vreeland's  secret  self-appointed  task  to 
follow  out  all  the  details  of  the  Hathorn  &  Wolfe 
failure,  whose  echoes  still  reverberated  in  the  curses 
of  the  defrauded  customers. 

Wolfe  was  left  alone  to  face  the  music,  and  the  whole 
financial  world  knew  that  the  great  sums  paid  in  to  the 
firm's  coffers  by  customers  in  the  sudden  Sugar  flurry 
had  been  all  diverted  by  the  fugitive  Hathorn  to  mar 
gin  those  enormous  private  deals  of  his  own  plunging, 
which,  even  criminal  in  their  character,  had  been 
made  dead  against  the  rising  market.  The  "double 
or  quits"  had  been  "quits"  with  him.  His  disgraced 
name  was  off  the  club  lists,  the  VanSittart  town  man 
sion  was  closed,  the  deserted  Oakwood  place  was 
garrisoned  for  a  long  foreign  stay  of  the  unhappy 
heiress,  and  "lightly  they  spoke  of  the  spirit"  which 
had  fled  with  Hathorn's  good  luck. 

There  was  little  left  for  the  plundered  creditors  to 
divide  but  "experience." 

Wolfe,  the  luckless  partner,  was  sullen  and  crushed, 
and  a  new  champion,  Mr.  James  Potter,  alertly  moved 
around  town  gathering  up  loose  ends  in  the  interest  of 
the  absent  wife. 

Wyman,  beyond  a  cold  comment  that  Hathorn's 
"pace  had  been  a  killing  one, "  never  referred  to  the 
utter  crash  of  their  natural  enemies,  and  the  social 
world  was  beginning  to  forget  Mr.  Frederick  Hathorn, 
having  relegated  him  to  the  "Limbo"  of  failure,  and 
marked  him  off  as  a  "has  been."  The  mad  rush  of 
New  York  life  soon  tramples  the  forgotten  graves  to  a 
dead  level. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  173 

In  the  avoidance  of  any  question  as  to  his  regular 
morning-  absence,  Vreeland  knew  that  Wyman  had 
been  evidently  posted  by  Judge  Endicott  as  to  Vree- 
land's  sidereal  duties  under  the  orders  of  Mrs.  Wil- 
loughby. 

It  was  wormwood  to  the  man  who  still  aspired  to 
read  every  hidden  secret  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  life  to 
know  that  Wyman  and  Endicott  now  frequently 
spent  the  long  evenings  with  the  Queen  of  the  Street 
at  the  "Circassia,"  and  that  vouchers,  schedules  and 
papers  covered  the  great  table  where  only  the  three 
sat,  well  out  of  reach  of  Justine's  eaves-dropping. 

"Cool  old  file  is  Endicott,"  growled  Vreeland. 
"Cased  in  steel  armor  of  proof.  Nor  passion,  pride, 
nor  weakness  ever  leaves  him  open  to  the  enemy  a 
moment." 

And  then  his  habitual  sneer  returned.  "Bah!  He 
is  too  old  for  all  of  man's  follies.  It  is  only  the 
young  and  ardent  who  burn  with  fond  hopes  and 
bravely  take  the  chances  of  life  in  the  open. 

"He  has  nothing  left  to  gain,  why  should  he  disquiet 
himself?  Man  delights  him  not,  no — nor  woman 
either." 

But  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby  had  really  overplayed 
the  game  of  an  assumed  carelessness  as  to  Hathorn's 
fate.  Vreeland  was  not  deceived. 

He  narrowly  watched  her  when  he  ventured  to  call 
and  report  the  aftermath  of  the  Hathorn  failure.  Her 
lack  of  interest  in  the  downfall  of  the  two  whom  she 
had  fought  in  society  and  on  the  Street  was  entirely 
forced.  She  gloated  over  her  victory. 

Her  despondency,  however,  was  real,  for  a  vague 
sorrow  shone  in  her  eyes  and  the  great  rooms  of  the 
Circassia  were  no  longer  filled  with  that  glittering 


174  IN  THE  SWIM. 

throng  which  she  had  drawn  away  from  Alida  Hat- 
horn's  Fifth  Avenue  drawing-rooms. 

"Did  she  ever  love  Hathorn?"  was  Vreeland's  self- 
torturing  question.  "And  is  her  vengeance  after  all 
only  Dead  Sea  fruit?"  He  secretly  resented  the  calm, 
equable  kindness  of  his  patroness,  for  there  was  no 
answering  glow  within  her  splendid  eyes,  no  quicken 
ing  of  her  frozen  pulses  at  his  approach. 

"She  has  only  used  me  as  a  human  buffer,  a  switch 
to  safely  reach  the  other  track,  and .  I  have  worked 
under  the  espionage  of  the  adroit  Mary  Kelly.  I  see 
her  whole  plan,"  wrathfully  decided  Vreeland. 

"To  break  up  her  whole  secret  into  disjointed  links. 
To  play  us  off,  one  against  the  other,  and  then  per 
haps  to  drop  me,  forever,  as  she  dropped  Hathorn,  if  I 
am  ever  caught  napping. 

"She  guards  some  momentous  secret.  Either  of  this 
hidden  syndicate's  inside  methods,  or  else  the  danger 
ous  past  life  which  blackens  her  present.  How  much 
of  that  did  Hathorn  know? 

"Not  enough  to  hurt  her.  But,  I  will  rule  her  by 
fear  yet,  for  love  is  out  of  the  game.  Let  me  secretly 
tap  her  lines,  and,  then,  gare  le  corbeau!" 

He  had  once  timidly  approached  Mrs.  Willoughby  as 
to  the  immediate-future  programme  of  the  uptown 
"special  bureau."  His  patroness  manifested  but  little 
interest  and  simply  coldly  said,  "You  will  have  ample 
leisure  for  society  and  your  own  affairs.  Remain 
there  silent,  watchful,  and  always  on  duty,  though. 

"The  reincorporation  in  New  Jersey,  the  coming 
division  into  common  and  preferred  stock,  and  the 
court's  dubious  actions  may  cause  me  to  act  strongly 
in  simulated  attack  or  defense,  at  any  moment.  And 
there's  always  that  veering  Congress;  its  actions  are 


IN  THE  SWIM.  175 

inexplicably  swayed  under  flex  or  reflex  of  the  public 
mind,  private  manipulation  or  "advanced  journalism." 
Vreeland  chafed  in  his  heart  that  there  had  been  as 
yet  no  rapprochement  between  himself  and  Senator 
Alynton.  A  slight  cold  disdain  seemed  to  chill  that 
magnate's  courtesy  in  all  their  brief  rencontres.  "He 
likes  me  not!"  was  the  schemer's  just  observation. 
And  yet,  he  gravely  held  a  uniform  courtesy. 

A  special  delivery  letter  at  last  awoke  Vreeland  from 
his  reverie,  as  he  was  furtively  gazing  at  Miss  Romaine 
Garland's  shapely  head  bowed  over  her  machine,  and 
then  the  tube's  whistle  announced  from  below  a  call  of 
"Mr.  James  Potter"  on  "the  most  important  business. " 

The  letter  lay  unopened  as  Vreeland  wonderingly 
advanced  to  meet  his  unfrequent  visitor. 

It  was  easy  to  see  that  the  "butterfly"  of  fashion 
was  gravely  impressed.  It  was  none  of  the  Dickie 
Doubleday's  crumpled  rose  leaves  which  had  brought 
the  pale-faced  man  to  the  luxurious  sky  parlors  of  the 
' '  Elmleaf . "  His  merry  face  was  soberly  overshadowed. 

With  little  formality,  Jimmy  Potter  closed  the  door 
into  the  rooms  where  the  two  women  were  engaged, 
and,  not  without  a  glance  of  impelled  admiration  at  the 
statuesque  stenographer,  broke  into  a  confidence  which 
astounded  Vreeland. 

"Hear  me  out  first,  Vreeland,"  he  soberly  said, 
"and  then  help  me  if  you  can.  I'm  off  on  the  steamer 
for  Havre  to-morrow.  To  join  Hathorn's  widow. " 

Vreeland  started,  but  Potter's  outstretched  arm  kept 
him  in  his  chair. 

"Poor  Fred  was  drowned  two  days  ago  by  the 
upsetting  of  a  boat  at  Cienfuegos.  The  fact  is,  the 
Cuban  authorities  were  after  him,  and  so,  he  cleared 
out  of  Havana." 

12 


176  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"I've  sent  a  good  man  down  there  to  do  all  that  may 
be  done,  in  a  decent  respect  for  his  past.  Mrs.  Hat- 
horn  has  just  cabled  for  me.  I  have  had  a  long  letter 
from  her. 

"Some  damned  traitor  deliberately  gave  her  the 
dead  cross  on  the  '  Sugar  Deal. '  She  was  trying  to 
get  Fred  out  of  the  Street.  And  so,  she  plunged  on 
fifty  thousand  shares  of  Sugar  on  this  lying  tip,  came 
out  short,  and  has  to  pay,  as  Hathorn  shoved  all  their 
customers'  money  in  to  hold  over  his  own  huge,  pri 
vate  gamble  until  the  market  broke  down  to  forty. 
It's  up  to  seventy-eight  and  there  to  stay.  Now,  she 
wishes  to  make  restitution  to  the  men  whom  the  firm 
robbed.  And  I  have  to  help  her  settle  her  own 
private  losses." 

"Poor  woman,"  murmured  Vreeland,  with  an  agita 
tion  which  did  not  escape  Potter.  The  little  man  was 
all  broken  up. 

"See  here,  Vreeland!"  cried  Potter,  "I  have  had  a 
glimpse  into  a  real  woman's  heart.  This  fatal  quarrel 
with  the  Willoughby  has  wrecked  two  lives.  Hathorn 
believed  Mrs.  Willoughby  to  be  invincible  in  the  Street. 

"He  tried  to  follow  her  game.  She  is  reported  to 
have  dealt  in  Sugar  up  to  several  millions. 

"Do  you  suppose  that  she  laid  a  trap  for  Hathorn's 
wife  to  fall  into?  Who  gave  her  the  false  tips?  I 
hope  that  the  author  of  this  misery  will  roast  in  hell." 

"I  know  nothing.  I  am  not  in  speculative  stocks," 
musingly  said  Vreeland. 

"Someone  may  have  taken  advantage  of  the  Hat- 
horns  and  lured  them  on  by  pretending  to  give  them 
Mrs.  Willoughby's  game.  I  am  busied  here  now,  half 
the  day,  with  my  own  private  matters." 

"It  was  soul-murder,  whoever  did  it,"  said  Potter. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  177 

"Alida  Hathorn  went  in  nobly  to  help  and  save  her 
husband.  To  aid  him,  to  square  him  with  the  Street 
and  his  firm,  and  then  to  take  him  forever  out  of  the 
turmoil  and  convoy  him  over  to  Europe.  She  has 
loads  of  money,  you  know.  But,  the  Ring  was  too 
much  for  him. 

"He  plunged,  too,  on  her  tip,  and  then  came  the 
crash,  his  flight,  and  now  his  untimely  death.  It's  all 
due  to  the  one  who  lured  Alida  Hathorn  on  to  ruin  her 
husband.  It  was  a  fiend's  work."  A  silence  reigned, 
a  gloomy  acquiescence. 

Vreeland  was  moodily  regarding  the  falling  snow 
through  the  darkened  panes  when  Jimmy  Potter  sighed 
and  said:  "Well,  it's  good-by,  old  fellow.  I've  got  an 
expert  with  Wolfe  going  over  the  real  honest  debts. 

"I  shall  stay  over  there,  advise  with  Alida  and  see 
that  the  sufferers  get  their  money.  For  she  has  been 
a  wifely  sacrifice;  she  is  high-spirited  and  true,  she 
outclassed  Hathorn.  Mrs.  Willoughby  set  him  up, 
and  then  threw  him  down. 

"His  pride  never  got  over  her  ruin  of  his  firm's  repu 
tation  by  drawing  all  her  business  out. 

"Of  course,  the  society  snakes  who  poisoned  the 
young  wife's  mind  brought  on  the  social  catastrophe. 
I  would  like  to  feel  that  Elaine  Willoughby  did  not 
betray  that  poor  young  woman.  But  I'll  square  it  all 
by  and  by. " 

"How?"  eagerly  demanded  Vreeland.  Potter  was 
brave  in  a  mad  resolve. 

The  young  millionaire  paused,  hat  and  umbrella  in 
hand.  ' '  I  have  found  a  business  in  life  at  last.  One 
that  suits  me. 

"If  Alida  Hathorn  has  not  money  enough  to  square 
all  the  honest  claims,  /  have.  For  a  year  and  a  day 

12 


178  IN  THE  SWIM. 

from  Hathorn's  death,  I  shall  marry  her,  and  then 
give  her  a  woman's  decent  happiness. 

"It  was  a  false  ambition  that  pushed  Hathorn  into 
her  circle.  He  was  only  a  good-looking  upstart,  and 
never  worthy  of  her. 

"So,  you  can  see  all  comes  around  to  the  man  who 
waits. 

"Now,  I  count  on  your  sense  of  manliness  to  protect 
the  name  of  Fred  Hathorn's  widow,  the  \7oman  who 
will  be  my  wife,  for,  with  all  your  money,  you  would 
not  be  in  New  York  to-day,  as  you  are,  at  the  top  of 
the  ladder  but  for  Hathorn. 

"You  stand  in  his  shoes  up  at  Lakemere,  here,  in 
the  Circassia,  and  you  of  all  men,  should  be  considerate 
to  his  memory."  The  scheming  liar  bowed  his  head 
in  a  speechless  agitation. 

Vreeland  escorted  his  visitor  to  the  stair.  "If  I 
need  any  private  tip,  I  may  use  you,"  said  Potter.  "I'll 
be  at  Hotel  Vendome,  Paris,  till  I  have  made  her  Mrs. 
Jimmy  Potter,  if  we  live. " 

With  a  last  touch  of  his  old  lightness,  the  champion 
of  the  absent  Alida  whispered,  ' '  That's  a  young  god 
dess  you  have  captured."  Potter  had  observed  the 
Bona  Dea. 

Vreeland  frowned  gravely  as  he  followed  the 
furtive  gesture. 

"Miss  Garland  has  entire  charge  of  all  the  books 
and  records  of  my  private  estate,"  he  coldly  said. 

4 '  I  am  a  man  of  system  and  order.  The  other  little 
woman  is  my  private  telegraph  operator.  She  is  a  part 
of  our  'business  force.'  "  Vreeland  affected  the  care 
worn  millionaire. 

"Ah,  you  don't  mix  up  the  two  affairs.  Very  good, 
very  good,"  complacently  said  Potter  as  he  disappeared, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  179 

leaving  Vreeland  startled.  He  bore  away  fruitful 
memories  of  Vreeland's  downcast  hesitation. 

The  hard-hearted  schemer  took  a  pull  at  the  brandy 
bottle.  "It  was  a  close  shave,"  he  murmured. 

"Alida  Hathorn  is  game  to  the  very  last.  She  has 
not  given  him  my  name,  'and  now,  as  she  will  finally 
drift  into  this  fortunate  marriage,  the  Lady  of  the  Red 
Rose  will  be  only  a  buried  memory. 

"I  am  safe,  and  he  never  will  know.  The  lovely 
'Red  Rose'  is  only  another  flower  in  le  Jar  din  Secret  " 

He  realized,  at  last,  that  the  daring  imprudence  of 
Alida  Hathorn's  visit  was  but  a  jealous  wife's  device, 
at  any  risk,  to  break  the  lines  of  her  husband's  enemies. 

"She  got  my  secret  far  too  easily,"  he  gloomily 
reflected,  "and  without  paying  the  price. 

"I  wonder  if  she  was  playing  me  as  a  lone  fish,"  he 
pondered — and  then  a  flash  came  to  enlighten  him. 

"Could  Elaine  Willoughby  fancy  that  the  news  of 
her  plunging  would  leak  out  and  ruin  them? 

' '  By  heaven !  She  may  have  crossed  this  gigantic 
trade  by  secret  orders  to  Endicott.  Hathorn  ruined, 
she  may  have  no  further  use  for  me. 

"And  if  the  Lady  of  the  Red  Rose  should  ever 
speak  I  would  be  ruined,  even  held  at  arms  length  as  I 
am." 

He  shuddered  under  the  curse  of  the  burning  words 
of  that  last  telegram. 

"She  believes  me  a  liar  and  traitor  to  her,  and  I 
will  never  dare  to  undeceive  her."  He  felt  that  he  had 
missed  the  finest  play  of  his  life. 

But  the  "special  delivery"  letter  still  stared  him  in 
the  face.  He  carelessly  tore  it  open  and  then  a  smile 
wreathed  his  lips. 

"To  meet  Senator  Alynton,   Senator  Garston,   and 


i8o  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Miss  Katharine  VanDyke  Norreys  at  dinner."  He 
instantly  wrote  out  and  dispatched  his  acceptance.  A 
glow  of  joy  lit  up  his  anxious  face. 

' '  I  must  get  Justine  at  work  soon  on  my  secret  lines. 
I  see  it  all.  These  Senators  are  of  the  '  Inner  Guild, ' 
the.  true  illuminati. 

"Who  the  devil  is  this  Garston — some  Western  fel 
low?" 

A  few  moments'  reference  gave  him  the  news: 
"Senator-elect  from  one  of  the  newly  knocked  together 
Western  States" — the  "means  to  an  end"  in  balancing 
National  elections.  The  trick  of  warring  plutocrats 
and  democrats. 

He  paced  the  room  in  deep  thought,  after  dispatch 
ing  his  reply.  "The  battle  will  be  on  again  soon. 
The  Trust  is  reorganized  and  conveniently  removed  to 
little  Jersey.  The  courts  have  now  done  their  worst, 
and  the  small  holders  are  all  squeezed  out. 

"Now  for  a  game  of  high  ball.  Yes,  my  lady,  that's 
your  trick.  A  new  deal.  And  the  beautiful  Calif ornian 
heiress  is  only  a  bright  lay-figure. 

"Your  real  hold  on  the  Street  is  the  secret  chain 
linking  these  statesmen,  through  you  and  Endicott,  to 
the  secret  chiefs  of  the  Sugar  Syndicate. 

"I'll  get  myself  into  your  current,  as  a  'transmitter,' 
and  you,  Madame  Elaine,  shall  yet  learn  to  bow  and 
bend.  The  child,  the  secrets  of  this  dangerous  partner 
ship,  the  story  of  your  past  life,  I  can  soon  get  it  all, 
bit  by  bit.  And,  then,  marriage  and  '  dominion  over 
you.'  That's  my  game!"  * 

There  was  an  unpleasant  menace  lingering  in  the  last 
words  of  the  departing  Potter.  Vreeland  knew  that 
should  the  generous-hearted  ex-banker,  in  time,  marry 
Fred  Hathorn's  widow,  the  few  hundred  thousands 


IN  THE  SWIM.  181 

lost  in  saving  Hathorn's  personal  honor  would  not  in 
any  way  impair  their  united  estates.  He  lingered  long 
on  the  subject.  He  feared  this  new  alliance. 

"They  might  crush  me,  if  they  joined  forces.  The 
one  danger  is  a  reconciliation  with  Mrs.  Willoughby. 
I  will  see  that  this  never  occurs. " 

And  so,  with  a  sense  of  defeat  clinging  to  his  past 
attempts,  he  decided  to  use  great  care  in  approaching 
his  proposed  dupe,  Miss  Romaine  Garland. 

For  his  patroness  certainly  was  not  wearing  her 
heart  upon  her  sleeve  now.  Her  private  sorrows  busied 
her  more  than  the  confidential  intimacy  with  her  new 
est  protegt. 

"She  could  drop  me,  ruin  me,  or  trap  me  as  easily 
as  she  finished  off  Hathorn,"  he  decided. 

"And  the  hot-headed,  daring  young  wife,  desperate 
in  her  jealousy,  anxious  to  break  Elaine  Willoughby's 
lines  and  guide  her  husband  into  the  heart  of  the 
Sugar  forces,  she  had  merely  broken  the  convenances, 
nothing  more. 

"For  only  a  cur  dare  ever  hint  at  the  stolen  visits. 
Club  and  coterie  would  brand  the  man  as  a  hound 
who  dared  to  boast  of  such  a  desperate  confidence  in  a 
man's  honor. 

"No.  The  Lady  of  the  Red  Rose,  bright,  daring 
and  stormy-hearted  like  many  another  fin  de  siecle  New 
York  wife,  was  safe. 

Safe  by  all  the  laws  of  manhood  and  honor.  And, 
in  all  the  gay  life  he  had  led,  he  had  only  met  the  easy 
abandon  of  high  life. 

The  loosening  of  restraint  of  a  democratic  luxury. 
He  well  knew  that  the  Dickie  Doubledays  and  the 
Tottie  Thistledowns  did  not  weigh  in  the  scale  against 
a  real  flesh  and  blood  womanhood.  They  were  only 


1 82  IN  THE  SWIM. 

bright,  lurid  beacons,  warning  signals  on  the  seas  of 
life,  stranded  on  the  reefs  of  human  weakness,  and 
with  shoals  of  foolish  virgins  following  on  in  their 
daring  footsteps. 

When  he  lifted  his  head,  the  stroke  of  twelve  brought 
Miss  Romaine  Garland,  with  bowed  head,  before  him, 
awaiting  her  daily  dismissal. 

He  had  never  dared  to  use  the  busy  hours  from  nine 
to  twelve  for  any  covert  approach  upon  the  stately 
girl's  confidence.  There,  too,  was  the  clear-eyed  Mary 
Kelly. 

The  rapturous  verdict  of  Jimmy  Potter  was  con 
firmed  as  he  glanced  at  the  young  goddess,  her  brown 
hair  rippling  from  a  pure  Greek  brow,  her  dark  eyes 
dreaming  under  their  lashes,  and  her  pale,  proud  face 
at  rest,  with  all  the  untroubled  peace  of  maidenhood. 

In  her  plain,  dark  dress,  her  sculptured  form  was 
deliciously  intimated.  Her  voice,  sweet  and  low  as  the 
breath  of  forest  winds,  awoke  his  hungering  curiosity. 
It  was  temps  de  reldche. 

Here  was  the  very  chance  to  begin  to  mold  her  to 
his  will.  To  awake  her  latent  love  of  luxury,  to  lead 
her  out  step  by  step  into  the  confidential  delights  of 
wine  and  song,  and  to  find  out  the  shady  places  where 
Love  lurks,  an  archer  imawares.  Yes.  He  would 
begin  to  mold  this  woman  to  his  will. 

Vreeland  desired  to  let  the  loneliness  of  a  great  city 
aid  him  in  his  easy  approach.  And  to  hurry  slowly 
and  be  wise.  He  had  noted  the  friendly  cordiality  of 
the  two  young  women.  "If  the  new  assistant  would 
only  play  into  his  hands,  and  help  to  outwit  the  pale 
spy. 

"If  she  can  throw  this  little  spy  off  her  guard — if 
I  can  get  them  both  to  begin  to  enjoy  themselves  a 


IN  THE  SWIM.  183 

little,  and  then  drop  into  an  easy,  hidden  intimacy 
with  Miss  Romaine,  then  my  patroness'  little  spy  game 
here  will  be  useless. 

4 'For,  if  that  woman  learned  to  love  a  man,  she 
would  go  through  fire  and  water  for  him." 

The  throbbing  of  his  heart  made  his  voice  tremble, 
and  the  veiled  purpose  of  his  crafty  soul  crept  into  his 
eyes,  though  they  only  rested  on  her  superbly  molded 
arms  and  slender,  delicate  hands,  when  he  carelessly 
said:  "If  you  would  kindly  leave  me  your  private 
address,  Miss  Garland,  I  might  need  it.  There  may 
be  some  extra  call  of  duty.  I  might  wish  to  com 
municate  with  you. " 

There  was  a  slight  flush  upon  her  cheek  as  the  deli 
cate  lips  slowly  parted. 

"I  live  at  some  distance,  Mr.  Vreeland,  with  private 
friends,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  render 
you  any  other  services  than  as  arranged.  I  have  no 
one  to  escort  me,  and  I  never  receive  visitors."  The 
voice  was  as  cold  as  the  glacier's  rills. 

Her  beauty  shone  out  as  pure  as  an  Easter  lily,  when 
she  simply  said:  "Miss  Kelly  will,  however,  send  any 
communication  you  might  have  to  make.  I  am  an 
absolute  stranger  in  New  York.  The  references  which 
I  gave  Miss  Marble  are  from  old  friends  in  Buffalo. 
I  can,  however,  at  all  times,  stay  as  late  as  Miss  Kelly 
does,  on  any  occasion  when  you  may  have  overwork. " 

The  young  Diana's  pure  brow  was  loftily  brave  in 
its  innocence. 

Vreeland's  eyes  hungrily  followed  her  as  she  moved 
quietly  away  in  answer  to  his  grave  bow  of  dismissal. 

"More  time.  More  time,"  he  murmured.  "If  I 
could  find  some  way  to  gain  her  personal  confidence. 
Flowers,  books,  little  attentions,  a  stray  set  of  theatre 


1 84  IN  THE  SWIM. 

or  opera  tickets.  For  she  is,  after  all,  only  a  woman. 
Fit  to  reign,  royal  in  youth,  and  serving  without 
stooping. 

"I  must  see  Miss  Marble.  The  ice  once  broken, 
perhaps — " 

He  mused  long  upon  an  ingenious  plan  to  "brighten 
the  life"  of  the  woman  he  would  use  as  a.  tool. 
"Yes,  it  can  be  done,  easily,  through  the  Marble." 
And  he  knew  that  veteran  traitress  would  aid  him  for 
money. 

The  week  before  the  day  of  Mrs.  Willoughby's  cere 
monial  dinner  was  wasted  by  Vreeland  in  some  amateur 
detective  work.  Miss  Justine  Duprez  easily  diagnosed 
the  growing  friendship  of  the  two  young  girls. 

For  Miss  Garland's  sweet,  tender  face  was  already 
familiar  in  the  little  household  where  Mary  Kelly's 
mother  watched  and  wondered  from  what  fairyland 
this  bright-faced  nymph  had  descended. 

A  stout  school  lad  of  sixteen  was  an  efficient  home 
escort  for  the  young  neophyte  in  New  York,  and  pride 
filled  the  eyes  of  Mary  Kelly's  brother. 

Vreeland  felt  all  the  growing  charm  of  the  steadfast 
girl's  influence,  her  cultured  manners,  her  dainty 
refinement  and  the  rare  delicacy  of  her  language  and 
taste.  He  valued  her  as  of  superior  clay. 

"Not  of  common  stock,"  he  murmured  as  he  deftly 
trod  along  her  path,  with  a  veiled  impatience.  He 
was  deep  now  in  the  last  details  of  a  plan  which  busied 
Justine  Duprez,  for  the  coming  of  the  second  Senator, 
the  open  splendors  of  the  grand  dinner  party  as  elabo 
rated  by  Justine  warned  him  that  if  he  would  cut  the 
secret  channels  so  vital  to  his  success,  he  must  bring 
the  janitor  and  postal  carriers  of  the  "Circassia" 
under  control. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  185 

Justine,  checking  his  headlong  impatience,  only 
smiled  her  velvety  smile  and  whispered,  "Give  me 
some  money  to  hoodwink  them  a  little.  Wait  only  for 
a  few  days,  and  trust  to  me.  Have  I  ever  failed  you?" 

When  the  "rising  and  successful  man,"  Mr.  Harold 
Vreeland,  dressed  himself  with  unusual  distinction  for 
Mrs.  Willoughby's  regal  dinner  party  of  twenty,  there 
was  all  the  happiness  of  a  new-born  hope  in  his  heart. 
For  he  was  nearly  ready  now  "to  move  on  the  enemy's 
works. " 

That  experienced  "broker  in  young  womanly  talent," 
Miss  Marble,  had  earned  herself  a  pretty  diamond  lace 
pin,  and  "an  authorization  to  proceed,"  by  her  ingen 
ious  plan  of  drawing  out  "Miss  Romaine  Garland." 
The  experienced  lady  had  smiled  at  all  his  first  crude 
attempts. 

"You  were  too  abrupt.  There  is  the  awkward  fact 
before  her  eyes  always,  that  you  are  her  employer. 
She  acts  on  the  mere  defensive. 

"The  proprieties  you  surely  know.  Now,  you  are 
far  too  young  and  charming  as  a  man,"  she  blushingly 
said,  "to  be  a  safe  benefactor  for  this  glowing-hearted 
girl  with  her  sweet,  tender  eyes. 

"She  is  a  rare  beauty  and  frankly  good,  and 
untinged  as  yet  with  the  fires  of  Babylon.  I  have  some 
showy  friends  of  some  influence,  and,  as  she  trusts  me 
blindly,  I  will  'have  warm-hearted  civilities'  extended 
to  her. 

' '  You  will  have  her  home  address  now,  in  return  for 
my  pretty  pin.  Never  go  there.  You  would  ruin  all. 

' '  But,  sir,  you  shall  be  drawn  in  as  a  guest  to  our 
little  friendly  coteries.  She  must  be  led  into  our  allied 
camp  gradually. 

"You,  by  hazard,  will  appear  as  an  old  intimate,  here 


i86  IN  THE  SWIM. 

and  there,  when  her  shyness  is  worn  off  and,  on  that 
friendly  and  neutral  ground,  you  can  soon  warm  the 
marble  into  life."  The  Marble  had  a  crafty  and  glow 
ing  heart. 

The  sly  woman  smiled.  ' '  No  lonely  young  woman 
can  resist  long-continued  and  unobstrusive  kindness. 
It  always  disarms.  Let  me  have  the  means  to  lead  her 
along  into  little  pleasures.  Once  the  taste  of  the  easy 
evening  outing  life  comes  upon  her,  then,  bit  by  bit, 
she  will  be  as  wax  in  my  hands.  You  can  meet  her, 
by  chance,  at  the  theatres  or  operas  when  out  with 
me.  I  will  have  a  little  supper  given  at  some  friend's 
home.  We  can  drop  off  the  friends  one  by  one.  1 
cling  to  her. 

"You  can  then  drop  me  off,  when  we  are  sure  that  the 
taste  of  pleasure  is  gently  awakened,  and  you  are  free  to 
then  show  her  all  your  generous  liberality.  Take  her 
home  to  your  daily  life,  then  once  that  the  confidential 
relation  is  established — "  Vreeland's  eyes  gleamed  in  a 
coming  triumph.  The  way  shone  out,  "straight  and 
sweet,"  before  him.  Miss  Joanna,  you  are  a  good  fairy, 
and  a  keen-witted  genius.  I  will  give  you  carte  blanche 
to  lead  her  out  along  the  rosy  path,  step  by  step,  and 
a  path  that  leads  always  toward  me." 

Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  moved  on  serenely  and  laid  his 
pitfalls  for  the  pure  young  girl,  whom  chance  had 
thrown  in  his  way,  with  no  compunction.  In  the 
blighted  career  of  his  own  dishonored  father,  he  had 
only  despised  the  weaknesses  which  led  to  failure. 

He  had  seen  the  downfall  of  Hathorn  without  a 
throb  of  sympathy  and  he  resented  the  frank,  honest 
predilection  which  was  now  leading  the  warm-hearted 
Potter  to  screen  Alida  Hathorn  from  a  mob  of  cold- 
hearted  "woman  eaters"  in  honorable  marriage. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  187 

Mean  at  heart,  he  even  doubted  the  past  life  of  the 
woman  who  had  lifted  him  up  to  luxury.  He  hated 
her  now  only  that  his  charms  of  person  and  manner 
had  not  brought  her  to  his  feet,  a  willing  dupe. 
•  "She  seemed  to  be  impressed  at  first,"  he  mused. 
"But  the  shock  of  Hathorn's  cold  abandonment  in 
his  little  tiger  cat  wife's  jealous  frenzy  seems  to  have 
turned  her  against  man,  for  a  time. 

"But,  let  me  only  get  a  hold  on  her.  I  do  not  care 
to  be  the  star  actor  in  a  modern  'Romance  of  a  Poor 
Young  Man. '  She  shall  not  shake  me  off. " 

He  plotted  deliberately  against  her  peace — his  gener 
ous  benefactress.  "First,  the  tapping  of  the  private 
lines.  Then,  to  mold  Romaine  Garland  to  my  will.  If 
she  does  not  yield  to  Joanna  Marble's  smooth  ways, 
then  out  into  the  streets  of  New  York. 

"There  are  others,  more  complaisant ;  but  to  awaken 
those  dark  eyes  to  pleasure's  glow.  To  have  them 
quicken  at  my  coming. " 

It  was  with  these  "undreamed  dreams"  haunting 
him  that  Harold  Vreeland  arrived,  in  sedate  splendor, 
at  the  "Circassia,"  where  "the  feast  was  set"  for  Sen 
ator  Alynton  and  that  Western  wonder  of  recent  occul- 
tation,  Senator-elect  James  Garston. 

In  the  kaleidoscopic  splendors  of  the  drawing-room, 
where  manly  eyes  gleamed  upon  the  beauties  of  splen 
did  womanhood,  among  the  fair  daughters  of  Eve  he 
missed  that  brilliant  blonde  heiress,  Miss  Katharine 
VanDyke  Norreys.  A  tap  from  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris' 
fan  recalled  him. 

"I  know  that  you  are  looking  for  her,"  whispered 
the  radiant  duenna.  ' '  Katharine  is  a  sort  of  ward  of 
Senator  Garston.  He  is  her  trustee.  They  all  come 
together.  I  must  have  a  word  with  you  about  poor — " 


1 88  IN  THE  SWIM. 

The  entrance  of  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby  brought  the 
splendid  circle  around  her,  there  where  gleaming 
lights  and  the  breath  of  matchless  flowers,  where 
diamonds  and  brightest  eyes,  where  ivory  bosoms  and 
shapely  silver  shoulders  were  mingling  charms  of  a 
modern  Paradise  of  throbbing,  hungry  hearts. 

Doctor  Alberg's  gloved  hand  was  resting  in  Vree- 
land's  palm — he  was  whispering,  "You  and  I  and 
Justine  must  watch" — when  the  calm,  passionless  face 
of  Senator  Alynton,  with  Miss  Katharine  Norreys  on 
his  arm,  appeared. 

There  was  a  hum  of  astonishment,  of  frank  self- 
surrender  to  the  Occidental  beauty's  charms  as  Alynton 
gravely  presented  a  tall,  stately  stranger,  whose 
slightly  silvered  hair  and  chevalieresque  bearing 
recalled  the  "Silver  King." 

"My  friend,  Senator  James  Garston, "  began  Alyn 
ton,  but  there  was  a  crowd  of  a  dozen  men  eagerly 
stretching  willing  arms,  as  Elaine  Willoughby's  face 
contracted  in  a  spasm  of  pain,  and  she  fell  senseless 
into  Doctor  Alberg's  firm  grasp.  "Only  the  old  heart 
trouble.  In  five  minutes  madame  will  be  herself," 
suavely  announced  the  doctor.  "Perhaps  a  bit  too 
tightly  laced,"  he  whispered  to  Mrs.  McMorris. 

It  was  a  stately  function,  the  dinner,  which  proceeded 
in  a  solemn  splendor. 

Senator  James  Garston  was  gravely  attentive  at  the 
hostess'  left,  and  only  Vreeland  knew  when  the  lights 
were  low  that  Garston  had  whispered,  ' '  I  must  see  you, 
at  once. " 

And  with  pale  lips  Elaine  Willoughby  had  mur 
mured,  "At  Lakemere,  and  to-morrow." 

Justine  had  gained  her  long-needed  clue. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  189 


CHAPTER   X. 

AN    INTERVIEW   AT    LAKEMERE— SOME    INGENIOUS 
MECHANISM.— "WHOSE  PICTURE  IS  THAT?" 

Harold  Vreeland  was  seated  in  a  blaze  of  light,  in 
his  own  rooms  at  four  in  the  morning,  anxiously  await 
ing  a  night  visit  from  one  who  might  unravel  the  whole 
mystery  while  the  lonely  Elaine  Willoughby  lay  help 
less  in  her  secluded  rooms,  feebly  struggling  toward  a 
return  of  her  self-control. 

"What new  devil's  jugglery  is  this?"  muttered  Vree 
land,  pausing  in  his  wolf  stride.  He  carefully  recalled 
every  action  of  the  newly-made  Senator  and  yet  he 
was  baffled  at  every  turn.  "Was  the  newcomer  an 
agent  of  a  morose  husband,  an  old  lover,  or  an  unwel 
come  apparition  from  the  clouded  past?"  He  was 
baffled. 

For,  he  began  to  realize  how  baseless  were  his 
meaner  suspicions  of  the  past.  There  had  been  no 
unworthy  love  between  Elaine  and  Hathorn.  The 
devil's  poison  of  slander  alone  had  excited  Alida's 
burning  jealousy.  She  herself  had  only  sought  "a 
dead  straight  point"  in  the  daring  visit  to  his  rooms. 
Elaine's  record  was  clear  so  far.  "Was  it  only  an  old 
sorrow?"  He  pondered  long.  Even  the  pale-faced, 
proud  girl,  whom  he  would  trap,  so  far  had  hugged 
her  honest  poverty  to  a  stainless  bosom. 

"I've been  dead  wrong  on  Alynton's  game  all  along. 
There's  neither  an  old  love,  nor  a  new  intrigue, 
there,"  he  growled.  "Justine  has  clearly  proved  that. 
Their  union  is  only  to  be  termed,  'strictly  business.' 


190  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"And  the  Senator's  frank,  brotherly  concern  at 
Elaine's  sudden  illness  went  no  farther  than  Colonel 
Barton  Graharae's  sympathy,  Judge  Endicott's  alarm, 
or  my  own  undisguised  interest.  Here  is  a  new  jack- 
in-the-box.  I  must  watch  Senator  Garston. " 

It  had  been  a  galling  mortification  to  Vreeland  in 
the  past,  that  faintly  disguised  disdain  of  Senator  David 
Alynton,  who  had  always  practically  ignored  him. 

But,  this  new  statesman,  sturdy  James  Garston,  had 
brought  to  their  meeting  an  unfeigned  western 
bonhomie. 

The  newcomer  had  sought  him  out  eagerly.  He  had 
drawn  the  younger  man  aside,  in  a  lull  of  the  enter 
tainment. 

"We  must  meet  and  talk  over  western  matters;  we 
have  the  world's  coming  treasury  out  there,"  largely 
remarked  the  new  Senator-elect. 

"I  am  housed  at  the  Plaza,  to  be  near  Miss  Norreys, 
who  is  at  the  Savoy.  I  shall  stay  here  a  few  days, 
and,  we  will  have  a  luncheon  together." 

In  fact  the  acute  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris  had  very 
deftly  arranged  it,  for  she  was  eager  to  matronize  the 
resplendent  Miss  Norreys,  to  bask  in  the  smile  of  this 
rising  financial  sun,  and  to  have  her  own  private  chat 
with  the  young  Fortunatus  about  the  vanished  Lady 
of  the  Red  Rose.  Her  prompt  social  fastening  upon 
Mrs.  Willoughby,  was  only  a  grim  proof  that  "the 
one  who  goes  is  happier  than  the  one  that's  left 
behind." 

The  new  Senator's  round  bullet-head,  his  curved 
beak-like  nose,  his  uncertain  gray  eye  and  unsmiling 
lips  marked  him  as  a  man  of  power. 

He  bore  in  every  movement  the  badge  of  hard-won 
success. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  191 

His  fifty-one  years  had  marked  him  lightly,  and, 
lawyer,  mine  owner,  and  capitalist,  he  was  riding  into 
the  Senate  on  a  chariot  with  golden  wheels.  It  is  the 
West  that  holds  now  the  American  sceptre. 

Vreeland  had  watched  Garston  keenly  at  the  dinner 
and  noted  his  poised  manner,  his  brilliant  flashes  of 
silence,  and  the  grave,  undisturbed  courtesy  of  his 
demeanor  toward  the  marble-faced  hostess.  "A  man 
of  a  level  head, "  was  Vreeland 's  verdict.  And  he 
tried  to  read  the  secret  of  Garston 's  imploring  glances. 

There  had  been  no  lingering  cloud  over  the  table, 
and  no  shade  of  Banquo  was  evoked  to  chill  the  later 
merriment.  Love,  veiled  and  unveiled,  deftly  footed 
it,  among  the  revelers,  and,  only  Doctor  Alberg's 
steady  eyes,  anxiously  fixed  upon  his  "star"  patient, 
proved  that  but  one,  besides  Vreeland,  realized  the 
desperate  battle  against  Time  which  Elaine  Willoughby 
was  fighting  out  to  the  last.  The  egoistic  revelers 
imagined  their  hostess'  seizure  to  be  a  mere  passing 
weakness.  They  all  knew  the  strain  of  the  exhausting 
New  York  season. 

"Charming  woman,  our  hostess,"  frankly  remarked 
Senator  Garston  to  Vreeland.  "Type  all  unknown  to 
our  modest  Marthas  of  the  Occident.  Here  in  Amer 
ica,  our  women  will  soon  be  crowned  queens,  if  I  may 
trust  to  the  'tiara'  bearing  stories  of  the  society 
journals. "  And  a  casual  remark  from  Vreeland 
brought  out  the  admission  that  Senator  Garston  had 
never  before  met  the  hostess.  ' '  It  was  to  my  colleague, 
Alynton,  that  I  owe  the  honor  of  this  presentation, " 
said  the  newly-made  toga  wearer.  "And,  as  Mrs.  Wil 
loughby  has  been  so  kind  to  my  ward,  Miss  Norreys, 
in  this  new  acquaintance,  both  pleasure  and  duty  join 
hands." 

13 


I9«  IN  THE  SWIM. 

But,  the  startled  Vreeland,  pacing  his  silent  room 
had  several  times  exclaimed,  in  his  lonely  rounds  while 
waiting  for  Alberg,  "James  Garston,  you  are  a  cool- 
headed,  thorough-paced  liar!  I  will  trace  you  back, 
my  occidental  friend,  only  to  find  'the  wires  crossed,' 
somewhere  in  the  past,  and,  from  you,  I  will  yet 
wrench  the  secret  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  early  life. 
Her  child!  Yes,"  he  cried,  "It  might  well  be."  He 
was  thrilling  in  every  fibre,  for,  in  the  dressing  room, 
Justine  had  stolen  to  his  side  whispering : 

"Doctor  Alberg  has  sent  for  a  trained  nurse  to  help 
me  watch  with  her  to-night.  Be  on  your  guard. 

"When  this  new  Senator  had  made  his  adieu,  I  was 
hidden  behind  the  curtain  in  the  long  hall.  I  saw  him 
neatly  drop  his  glove,  as  if  by  accident.  Alynton 
and  that  tall  golden -haired  girl  were  waiting  outside  as 
he  stole  back."  The  French  woman  fairly  hissed, 
' '  He  is  the  man  to  fear.  I  am  sure  they  are  old  lovers. 
For,  he  caught  her  by  both  hands  and  fairly  devoured 
her  with  his  eyes. 

"  'To-morrow,  alone,  at  Lakemere,'  she  said.  Voilh! 
Milady.  Just  a  woman,  like  the  rest  of  us. " 

"Justine,  that  paper,  the  one  in  her  corset.  A 
thousand  dollars  for  a  copy  of  it." 

"I  will  get  it  to-night!"  the  velvet-eyed  spy  cried. 

"Go  now.  You  will  hear  from  me  soon.  Don't  leave 
your  room  for  a  moment,  and,  gare  la  Kelly.  -  She 
reports  daily  on  you  to  our  full-blown  ingenue.  What 
ever  turns  up,  you  will  surely  hear  from  me.  I'll  earn 
your  money  yet. " 

It  was  five  o'clock  when  the  haggard  German  phy 
sician  crawled  up  Vreeland's  stair.  He  was  worn  and 
exhausted. 

"I've had  a  night  of  it,"  he  savagely  cried,  "give  me 


IN  THE  SWIM.  193 

a  glass  of  real  brandy.  No  slops.  That  poor  devil  of 
a  woman  has  had  fainting  fits  one  after  the  other. 
I've  now  got  Martha  Wilmot,  my  only  really  reliable 
nurse,  watching  her.  The  devil  of  it  is,  Madame  will 
go  up  to  Lakemere  at  ten  o'clock,  and  she  vows  she  will, 
alone.  The  house  there  is  shut  up.  It  is  not  even 
properly  warmed.  She  will  come  back,  and  have  a 
relapse,  but  what  can  I  do.  She  has  an  iron  will. ' ' 

The  angry  Teuton  drank  a  second  dram  and  then 
relapsed  into  a  sullen  silence. 

"Alberg,  my  boy,  you  are  a  good  doctor,  but,  you 
don't  know  women,  only  your  blue-eyed,  clumsy  frau- 
leins,  over  there.  This  American  woman  is  made  of 
fire  and  flame.  Tell  me,  what  sort  of  a  person  is  your 
nurse,  Wilmot?" 

"She's  a  good  one — an  'out  and  outer.'  She  goes 
home  to  England  next  week.  She  has  some  ideas  of 
her  own  to  work  out  over  there. ' ' 

"Tell  that  smart  woman  to  slip  down  here  and  see 
me  before  our  patient  comes  back.  I  '11  be  here  from 
four  to  seven  to-day.  And,  mind  that  you  put  her 
'dead  on'  to  me,  as  the  holder  of  a  hundred  pound  note 
for  her." 

"Good,"  grunted  Alberg. 

"And,  now,  my  son  of  Galen,  what  was  it  that  upset 
Mrs.  Willoughby?"  Vreeland  was  eagerly  studying 
the  German's  face. 

"The  old  thing.  She  has  raved  all  night  about  her 
child.  I  only  brought  her  out  of  the  attack  with  the 
strongest  anti-spasmodics  that  man  dare  to  use,  short 
of  clear  cold  murder.  It's  a  terrible  risk,"  sighed 
Alberg. 

When  Doctor  Hugo  Alberg  left  the  Elmleaf,  he  was 
under  the  spell  of  his  lying  coadjutor,  and  richer  by  a 
13 


194  IN  THE  SWIM. 

few  hundred  dollars.  "This  fellow  must  never  even 
lift  the  veil  of  the  Temple,"  muttered  Vreeland. 
"Only  trust  to  Justine.  Only  Justine,"  he  cried,  as 
he  threw  himself  down  to  sleep,  after  ordering  the 
wondering  Bagley  to  send  Miss  Kelly  home  on  her 
arrival,  and  also  that  dark-eyed  enigma,  Miss  Garland. 
He  needed  solitude. 

"I  am  ill,  and,  must  have  a  long  sleep.  You  can 
take  a  day  off  yourself.  Clear  out  for  the  day  and 
don't  let  me  hear  a  single  footfall  about  my  rooms," 
were  the  staccato  injunctions  of  the  excited  schemer. 

"If  that  nurse  only  comes, "  he  murmured,  as  he 
closed  his  weary  eyes. 

It  was  eleven  o'clock  when  a  light  step  echoed  in 
Vreeland's  hall,  and  the  swishing  sound  of  Justine 
Duprez'srobe  made  the  banker  leap  to  his  door.  The 
French  girl  had  her  will  at  last.  She  stood  amid  the 
splendors  of  Vreeland's  veiled  Paradise — her  lover's 
home. 

She  cried  out  in  glee,  "Thank  God!  She  is  out  of 
the  way.  I  came  here  from  the  train.  She  absolutely 
forbade  me  to  go  with  her.  I  have  had  the  janitor's 
boy  watching  all  the  trains.  This  Senator  Garston 
went  up  the  road  an  hour  ago.  The  smart  boy  helped 
us  last  night  in  the  cloak  rooms,  and,  so,  they  are  off 
alone  together,  up  there,  to-day. ' ' 

Vreeland's  eyes  blazed  in  a  mighty  triumph. 
"To-night,  you  must  help  me,  Justine,"  cried  the 
eager  schemer. 

"See  here.  I  already  have  stolen  what  you  want," 
cried  Justine.  "You  said  it  was  worth  a  thousand  dol 
lars.  I  copied  even  every  mark  on  the  hidden  papers, 
and,  I  went  over  it  a  dozen  times,  while  the  new  nurse 
was  with  her.  Madame  was  insensible,  and,  I  had 


IN  THE  SWIM.  195 

time  to  work  in  safety.  What  will  you  give  me, 
now?" 

She  was  not  listened  too,  for  with  a  ferocious  joy, 
Vreeland  leaped  up,  crying-,  "My  God!  I  have  her  now. 
They  are  all  in  the  hollow  of  my  hand. ' ' 

He  had  glanced  over  the  list  of  names  written  there, 
and  a  row  of  figures  with  some  characters  added, 
which  seemed  to  glow  before  him  in  living  flame. 

He  drew  the  Frenchwoman  to  his  side,  and  there 
dashed  off  a  check  to  his  own  order  and  carefully 
indorsed  it. 

"There's  your  money,  you  jewel,"  he  gasped. 
' '  Listen.  To-night,  when  she  comes  back,  or  to-morrow 
night,  if  she  is  again  under  the  nurse's  watch,  you  must 
steal  that  envelope  again.  I  will  be  waiting  outside 
the  Circassia,  and  stay  all  of  both  nights  till  I  get  the 
original  paper  that  you  copied.  Put  a  simple  sheet  of 
blank  paper  back  in  the  envelope  and  close  it  up. 
Sew  it  up  again  in  the  same  place  in  her  corset. 

"We  will  leave  that  to  be  stolen  by  the  nurse,  Martha 
Wilmot.  She  will  know  what  to  do  with  it. 

"She  clears  out  of  here  for  Europe  in  a  few  days. 
She  will  keep  well  out  of  Mrs.  Willoughby's  way. 
And,  so  the  Madame  will  think  that  she  has  been 
robbed  by  our  sly,  English  friend.  I  will  pay  the  nurse 
well  and  help  her  away.  But  that  original  paper 
must  come  to  me. 

"Be  sure  to  leave  Mrs.  Willoughby's  garments  where 
the  nurse  could  easily  reach  them — no  one  shall  sus 
pect  you.  I'll  hold  you  safe — it  is  our  own  secret. 
Alberg  will,  of  course,  raise  a  devil  of  a  row  about  the 
nurse  clearing  out,  and  robbing  him,  but  only  after 
she  is  gone. ' ' 


196  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"And  my  mistress.  Mon  Dieu!  But,  how  I  fear 
her!"  faltered  the  trembling  Justine. 

"Nonsense.  The  woman  comes  down  here  to-day. 
She  will  get  her  orders  from  me.  You  can  put  this 
blank  envelope  with  its  paper  rilling  back  in  the  corset, 
so  that  Mrs.  Willoughby  will  feel  that  something  is 
there.  And,  now,  about  tapping  her  telephone  and 
telegraph  wires. " 

Justine  had  finished  a  glass  of  wine  when  she 
sprang  to  her  feet.  "To-day  is  the  day  of  days.  The 
janitor,  August  Helms,  is  all  ready  to  tie  on  the  wires 
to  tap  her  telegraph  and  telephone.  Come  up  to  the 
Circassia  at  noon.  I  will  take  you  into  his  room  by  the 
back  way.  He  has  arranged  all  with  Mulholland,  one 
of  the  two  letter-carriers,  to  always  delay  Mrs.  Wil 
loughby 's  mail  by  one  delivery.  Mulholland  can 
hold  them  all  for  himself  to  handle.  And,  Helms,  in 
his  room,  will  then  open  and  copy  any  we  need.  He 
is  a  German  adept  in  letter  opening." 

"You  are  a  genius,  Justine,"  cried  Vreeland.  "You 
can  bring  Helms  down  to  your  own  room  in  South  Fifth 
Avenue  and  there  you  and  I  together  can  square  up 
with  him.  We  must  be  two  to  his  one.  This  is  the 
very  day  of  days  while  she  is  fondly  lingering  at  Lake- 
mere  with  her  own  oldest  lover. 

"And  now,  my  girl,  take  a  good  look  around  my  den 
and  then  get  out  of  here.  It  is  too  dangerous  for  us. 

"For,  you  must  never  come  here  again.  The 
janitor  has  sharp  eyes. " 

"Yes,  and,  the  new  'Mees  Gairland'  is  many  evenings 
now,  with  that  little  Kelly  devil.  Look  out  for  them 
both.  You  can  only  trust  me,"  nodded  Justine,  as  she 
fled  away,  whispering,  "I  will  come  down  into  the 
court  of  the  Circassia  and  meet  you,  in  the  entrance, 


IN  THE  SWIM.  197 

as  if  by  hazard  at  noon  precisely.  All  you  have  to  do  is 
to  silently  follow  me.  I  will  have  that  paper  by  mid 
night  if  I  live  and  the  nurse  shall  have  the  blame. " 

The  rooms  echoed  to  the  laughter  of  hell  as  Vree- 
land's  fiery  devil  whispered,  "Victory!"  He  had  at 
last  solved  the  mystery  of  a  "business  syndicate" 
which  made  him  tremble  as  he  feared  its  name  might 
escape  his  lips.  The  copied  paper  gave  a  list  of 
names  whose  publication  would  shake  a  nation's  coun 
sels,  and  Garston's  name  was  there. 

So,  tiger-like  and  triumphant,  he  waited  for  the 
hour  to  go  and  arrange  for  his  secret  stealing  of  his 
dupe's  messages. 

And,  far  away,  at  lonely  Lakemere,  where  the  trees 
now  gleamed  like  ghastly  silver  skeletons  of  summer's 
glories,  the  winds  wailed  around  the  silent  mansion 
where  Elaine  Willoughby  stood  face  to  face  with  the 
man  who  had  come  out  of  her  dead  past,  an  apparition 
as  grim  and  awful  to  her  as  the  rising  of  the  sheeted 
dead. 

It  was  the  struggle  to  the  death  of  two  proud  and 
world-hardened  hearts.  The  secret  of  her  blighted 
youth  was  face  to  face  with  her  now.  And,  the  shadow 
of  a  crime  hung  menacingly  over  James  Garston,  the 
toga  wearer.  A  statesman  of  a  clouded  past — a  past 
known  only  to  the  defiant  woman  facing  him  on  her  own 
battle-ground. 

"I  find  you  here  under  a  stolen  name,  facing  the 
world,  as  a  living  lie."  The  woman's  scornful  lips 
had  lashed  into  his  quivering  heart.  Garston,  bold- 
brave,  reckless  now  with  a  mad  tide  of  desire  sweep 
ing  over  his  reawakened  heart,  had  seized  her  hands. 
He  cried,  passionately:  "And,  I  find  my  lost  wife,  the 


198  IN  THE  SWIM. 

mother  of  our  child,  here,  a  lovely,  and   a   glowing 
truth." 

When  he  would  have  drawn  her  to  him,  she  flung 
him  off  and  dropped,  a  shaken  Niobe,  into  a  chair,  with 
her  stormy  tears  raining  over  her  beautiful,  pallid 
face.  That  single  word,  "child,"  had  disarmed  her> 
rising  anger.  For,  she  was  facing  one  who  knew  all 
of  the  sealed  past. 

"My  child,  my  child,"  she  sobbed. 

But,  James  Garston  was  on  his  knees  before  her  now. 

"Our  child — Margaret!  It  can  all  be  made  right, 
now.  Trust  to  me.  Let  me  take  you  openly  to  my 
heart.  Be  my  wife  once  more.  Be  a  world's  queen. 
I  will  make  you  happy.  " 

Bold  as  he  was,  he  shuddered,  as  she  sprang  to 
her  feet.  "You  hound!"  she  bitterly  cried,  and  then 
slowly  turned,  and  walked  unsteadily  to  the  door.  He 
had  found  a  way  to  wring  her  heart  at  last,  but  her 
courage  had  returned.  The  wrongs  of  her  youth 
burned  in  her  bosom  again. 

"Hear  me.  You  must!  You  shall!"  he  pleaded, 
seizing  her  in  his  strong  arms.  ' '  I  knew  not  even  the 
horn  book  of  my  own  nature  when  we  married  as 
young  fools  marry. ' '  She  had  torn  herself  away  from 
him,  and  stood  at  bay  with  an  unutterable  loathing 
hardening  upon  her  face.  "I  am  rich,  now,  a  Senator 
to  be,  and  the  friend  of  your  friends. 

"You  dare  not  openly  defy  me.  For,  I  can  publicly 
claim  you  as  mine.  I  demand  to  see  our  child.  I  offer 
you  myself — the  matured  man — a  leader  of  men.  I 
offer  you  a  secured,  honored  place  in  Washington  life. 
And,  you  need  me,  for  I  can  throw  down  your  house 
of  cards.  When  Alynton  told  me  of  the  wonder 
worker,  the  Queen  of  the  Street,  the  Lady  of  Lake- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  199 

mere,  I  was  merely  interested.  But,  when  I  saw  you, 
last  night,  my  heart  leaped  up.  For  mine  you  were, 
mine  you  are — mine  you  shall  be. " 

The  strong  man  counted  upon  the  physical  subjection 
of  the  woman  once  reduced  to  be  his  loving  vassal — 
the  girl  wife  who  had  lain  in  his  arms. 

And,  master  of  her  destiny  once,  he  would  now 
bend  her  to  his  will  again. 

His  eyes  were  burning,  his  breath  came  quickly,  and 
he  awaited  the  physical  revulsion  of  a  weakened 
womanhood. 

"There  is  always  the  tie  that  binds — the  child — and, 
she  belongs  by  Nature 's  bond  to  me. ' ' 

But,  the  man  who  coarsely  counted  upon  "a  previous 
condition  of  servitude"  as  establishing  a  valid  claim 
upon  the  Lady  of  Lakemere,  shivered  under  the  cold 
scorn  of  her  words,  for  the  wife  of  his  youth  seated 
herself,  and,  gazing  into  his  eyes  with  an  unutterable 
contempt,  read  the  death  warrant  of  his  hopes. 

"Let  me  cast  up  our  accounts,  here,  now,  in  my 
home,  Arnold  Cranstoun,  on  this  winter  day,  in  a  soli 
tude  on  which  you  shall  never  intrude  again  save  when 
I  call  upon  you. 

"The  dead  past  is  buried.  Let  it  rest.  Dare  not  to 
cry  Resurgam!  I  dismiss  all  your  sneers  as  to 
Alynton,  and,  I  fear  not  your  circle.  You  are  as  yet, 
but  a  clumsy  neophyte  there. 

"Know,  once  for  all,  that  your  friends  are  in  my 
power,  but  they  trust  to  me,  and,  I  am  more  than 
worthy  of  their  confidence. 

' '  For  another  circle  of  men  of  boundless  power  also 
trust  me — men  who  would  not  trust  them,  save 
through  me,  and,  men  who  would  resistlessly  crush 
you  at  my  bidding. 


200  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"I  speak  now  for  the  woman  who  is  dead. 

"Margaret  Cranstoun,  the  woman  heart  slain  by  your 
cowardice,  the  loving  and  tender  girl-wife.  Look 
back  nineteen  long  years  to  see  yourself  the  trusted 
bank-cashier,  a  rising  man  of  thirty-two. 

"I  was  then  your  slave,  your  loving  slave,  a  wearer  of 
self-forced  heart  shackles.  I,  the  girl  of  seventeen, 
believed  you  to  be  my  lover  husband — a  man  among 
men. " 

Senator  James  Garston's  head  was  bowed  in  his 
hands,  as  the  accusing  voice  rang  out.  He  heard  the 
knell  of  his  last  hopes. 

"A  year  later,  when  you  basely  fled,  leaving  me,  the 
mother  of  your  two  months'  old  helpless  girl  to  face  the 
employers  whom  you  had  robbed  in  your  hidden  specu 
lations,  then,  only  then,  I  learned  of  your  double  life 
in  New  York.  I  knew  that  I  was  the  innocent  host 
age  of  purity  and  honor.  The  screen  of  your  dearest 
vices. " 

Garston  groaned  as  the  voice  rose  high  in  its  scorn 
and  Elaine  Willoughby  stood  before  him,  with  out 
stretched  arm,  an  angel  with  a  flaming  sword,  at  the 
shut  gates  of  his  Lost  Paradise. 

"Where  you  fled  to  I  knew  not — I  cared  not,  for, 
with  young  blood  and  a  loving  heart,  I  might  even 
have  shared  the  fate  of  a  bold  sinner. 

"But  a  sneaking  coward  must  learn  that  woman's 
heart  condones  not  poltrootiing  nor  meanness ! 

"You  would  now  hold  the  dead  past  over  my  head — 
trumpet  to  the  world  your  own  story!"  she  cried.  "I 
can  easily  confirm  it.  I  have  kept  all  your  letters — 
the  story  of  your  crime,  the  papers  and  vouchers  which 
were  found  in  your  New  York  room. 

"Your  letters  of  egoistic  love,    your  later  whining 


IN  THE  SWIM.  201 

apologies  from  your  unknown  Western  haunt.  And 
armed  with  these,  /  could  chase  James  Garston  from 
the  Senate. ' ' 

The  suffering  man  sprang  up.  "Not  so.  I  have  a 
right  to  my  name.  I  legally  changed  it  years  ago. 
The  bank  is  long  years  out  of  existence ;  there  is  also 
the  limitation  of  the  past  years.  No  one  would  believe 
you." 

His  voice  was  broken  with  helpless  tears  now. 

"Look  at  me!  look  at  me!"  the  splendid  woman 
proudly  cried.  ' '  Dare  any  man  say  that  my  life  has 
been  a  lie?  Hear  my  story. 

' '  Starvation,  cold  charity  or  the  ignominy  of  helpless 
dependence  was  all  you  left  me.  I  put  our  babe  away. 
I  went  out  a  toiler  into  the  world.  As  a  school  teacher 
I  drifted  away  to  the  far  West,  and  only  changed  my 
name.  I  left  our  home  to  avoid  the  honest  love  of 
good  men  who  would  have  married  me  for  pity's  sake. 
For  men  were  good  to  the  shamed  widowed  Margaret 
Cranstoun. 

"My  clean  hands  were  still  linked  by  law  to  the 
unpunished  fugitive  felon.  I  am  free  now,  and  I  know 
that  you  never  would  dare  to  speak.  I  know  your 
coward  soul.  A  judicial  decree  that  you  are  dead  can 
be  easily  had;  your  eighteen  years  of  absence  makes 
that  my  legal  right.  Widow  of  the  heart,  I  will  be  a 
widow  by  law.  But  your  coward  silence  will  continue. 

"Where  did  I  gain  wealth?  I  see  the  question  in 
your  eyes.  I  became  a  school  teacher  at  Leadville. 
A  few  acres  of  ground  and  a  cottage  were  the  first 
fruits  of  my  savings. 

"The  kindly  mountain  gnomes  worked  for  me,  with 
fairy  friendship. 

"There  was  a  million  in  carbonates  under  those 


202  IN  THE  SWIM. 

rocky  slopes  where  I  tempted  the  hardy  flower  to  grow. 

"Young  yet — beautiful  then — I  became  the  ardent 
chase  of  men  in  marriage.  My  gold  gilded  my  lonely 
life.  Many  wished  to  share  it. 

"I  was  made  sadly  wise,  and  I  reaped  my  harvest  of 
sorrows.  Five  years  in  Europe  made  me  a  woman  of 
the  world — an  accomplished  world  wanderer.  I  have 
learned  in  these  lonely  years  the  delicious  power  of 
wealth. 

"I  followed  your  secret  example.  I  legally  changed 
my  name  to  Elaine  Willoughby.  And  my  honest  title 
is  clearer  than  yours. 

"I  have  an  able  lawyer  to  defend  my  rights,  in  whom 
you  would  find  an  implacable  foe. ' ' 

She  paused  and  spoke  the  final  doom  of  his  hopes. 

"Had  you  come  to  me,  red-handed,  but  loving,  I 
might  have  forgiven  you,  followed  you — loved  you 
even  in  your  crime — and  suffered  all  to  shield  the  one 
beloved  head.  /  did  love  you  once  with  my  whole  soul. ' ' 

There  was  the  sound  of  choking  sobs,  and  in  an 
instant,  Garston  was  on  his  knees  before  her.  The 
silence  was  broken  by  her  faltering  accents. 

"But  now,  freed  by  Nature's  reincarnation,  loyal 
even  yet  to  a  dead  past,  I  exult  in  the  unchallenged 
ownership  of  my  mind,  body  and  soul.  You  would 
take  to  your  bosom  the  woman  you  still  find  fair,  rich, 
powerful  and  respected.  Never!  Nature  revolts! 

"For  the  starving  outcast  of  the  streets  who  sells 
herself  for  bread  to  the  first  chance  comer  were  white 
as  snow  compared  to  the  woman  who  would  again  sink 
to  your  level. 

"Arnold  Cranstoun,  any  man  in  the  world  but  you 
may  look  on  me  with  longing  eyes. 

""Between  us  there  is  the  gulf  of  your  eternal  sJiame! 


IN  THE  SWIM.  203 

Now,  leave  me.  I  fear  you  not !  Let  all  else  go  on  as 
fate  ordains. 

"Your  silence  will  be  assured,  for  fear  will  seal  your 
lips.  Let  there  be  neither  approach  nor  avoidance — 
simply  the  oblivion  of  the  absolute  divorce  of  all  laws, 
God's,  Nature's,  and  man's. 

"Go  now!  If  you  ever  seek  to  cross  my  path, 
beware!  You  may  haunt  the  peopled  solitudes 
around  me  and  meet  me  as  a  chance  acquaintance. 

"Your  'society  drill'  will  hold  you  in  your  place  in 
the  poor  parade  of  this  superficial  life." 

She  dropped  her  eyes,  and  her  impassioned  voice 
echoed  sadly  on  his  ears.  He  was  defeated,  and  an 
agony  rent  his  heart. 

"Let  me  do  something  for  you,  Margaret,"  he 
pleaded. 

"I  am  above  your  power  to  aid,"  the  proud  woman 
replied. 

"Let  me  atone,"  he  begged. 

"Dead  beyond  awakening  is  my  heart,  and  you  know 
it.  Do  not  now  add  a  hideous  insult  to  Nature  to  your 
cowardly  abandonment  of  the  past. ' ' 

The  dull,  level  coldness  of  her  voice  proved  to  him 
that  she  bore  a  frozen  heart,  one  never  to  awaken  at 
his  touch.  He  cast  himself  down  before  her  in  a  last 
appeal. 

And  then,  on  his  knees  before  the  woman  whom  he 
had  sworn  to  cherish  "  till  death  do  us  part, "  the  strong 
man  pleaded  for  the  child  whom  fate  had  robbed  from 
the  clinging  arms  of  its  mother.  Margaret  Cranstoun 
sobbed : 

"The  child!  Oh,  my  God!  Never!  Name  not  her 
name.  Me,  your  victim  or  your  sacrifice.  Her  name 
shall  never  cross  your  lips.  Wherever  God's  mercy 


204  IN  THE  SWIM. 

takes  that  innocent  one,  she  shall  live  and  die  father 
less — save  for  Him  above.  I  swear  it,  on  the  memory 
of  a  mother's  natal  anguish.  And  now,  Senator  James 
Garston, — " 

The  stately  woman  stood  before  him  with  the  menace 
of  a  life  in  her  eyes. 

"  This  is  the  end  of  all!  Go!  You  are  safe  from  my 
vengeance  now.  I  care  not  how  you  have  dragged 
yourself  up  on  Fortune's  wheel. 

"Go!  And  if  you  ever  break  the  sorrow-shaded  still 
ness  of  my  life,  then,  may  God  help  you.  For  I  will  strike 
you  down  for  the  sake  of  that  same  fatherless  child. ' ' 

A  black  storm  of  suddenly  aroused  jealousy  swept 
over  Garston' s  face. 

"Your  handsome  lover  Vreeland  shall  be  my  prey, 
my  tool,  my  confidant.  I  will  creep  into  your  heart 
through  your  own  pleasant  vice.  And,  by  God!  He 
shall  find  out  the  girl  for  me. ' ' 

When  James  Garston 's  passion-blinded  eyes  cleared, 
he  was  standing  there  alone,  and  a  sudden  fear  smote 
upon  him. 

The  ghastly  silence  of  the  splendid  deserted  halls 
weighed  upon  him.  He  staggered  out  into  the  blind 
ing  snows,  now  falling,  and  crossed  the  park  to  where 
a  sleigh  waited  at  the  garden  gate. 

He  was  half  mad,  as  he  wandered  away  under  the 
trees,  and  he  hurled  away  his  revolver  lest  he  should 
be  tempted  to  die  there  before  her  windows. 

"I  have  lost  a  woman  upon  whose  breast  a  king's 
head  might  proudly  rest, ' '  he  said  to  that  ghost  of  his 
dead  self  which  rose  up  to  mock  the  man  of  mark,  the 
millionaire.  "And — she  loved  me  once.  Fool — -fool — 
and — blind  fool! ' '  he  muttered. 

A  mad  resolve  thrilled  him  now. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  205 

"The  child!  By  God!  she  would  hide  her.  The  world 
is  not  wide  enough.  There's  my  money — and  this 
young  fellow  Vreeland.  I  have  a  lure  for  him. " 

His  busy  brain  thrilled  with  plots  of  the  one  revenge 
left  to  him.  "I  will  steal  away  both  child  and  lover!" 
he  swore. 

Senator  Garston's  face  was  sternly  composed  that 
night  as  he  indited  his  invitation  to  the  rising  young 
banker  to  join  him  at  the  Plaza. 

"Katie  Norreys  can  soon  twist  him  around  her  slim, 
white  fingers — he  is  young  and  rash,"  the  cold-hearted 
millionaire  mused.  "I  am  safe  in  Margaret's  silence. 
My  money  will  talk.  My  record  is  safe.  I  have  made 
my  calling  and  election  sure.  I'll  get  Vreeland  into 
the  fair  Katie's  hands. 

' '  A  little  money  will  help.  He  shall  be  turned  away 
from  Margaret.  Once  that  I  have  the  girl,  then 
Margaret  will  surely  soften — for  that  child's  sake.  By 
God!  I'll  buy  the  girl's  heart!  I  have  money  enough, 
and  I'll  outbid  even  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby." 

The  Senator-elect  felt  a  new  glow  in  his  heart,  the 
ardor  of  a  wolf -like  chase,  an  untiring  chase,  for  love, 
passion,  and  vengeance  carried  him  on. 

"I'll  live  to  laugh  at  her  heroics  yet,"  he  cried,  "for 
I  will  bring  her  into  camp.  /  am  not  accustomed  to 
fail. "  He  was  resolute  now. 

The  lights  were  gleaming  golden  in  the  Circassia 
when  a  pale-faced  woman  crept  back  to  the  splendors 
of  the  pearl  boudoir. 

No  one  had  marked  Senator  James  Garston's  visit  to 
Lakemere,  and  the  two  caretakers — man  and  wife — 
marveled  at  their  mistress'  agitation  when  she  bade 
them  escort  her  back  to  New  York  City.  The  gardener 
summoned  to  watch  over  the  lonely  mansion  grumbled: 


206  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"I  never  saw  her  look  like  that."  For  the  brave 
woman  was  now  "paying  the  price."  It  was  the  reflex 
swing  of  the  pendulum  of  Life. 

Could  the  three  humble  servitors  have  heard  the 
accusing  cry  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  heart  they  would 
have  known  the  anguish  of  a  stricken  woman's  arraign 
ment  of  Providence. 

"And  he — oh,  my  God!  He  prospers,  while  my 
child  is  taken  from  me!  Is  this  the  price  of  my 
mother's  love,  my  empty  heart,  my  vacant  home,  my 
death  in  life!" 

It  seemed  as  if  God  had  spared  the  wrongdoer  to 
smite  her  quivering  mother  heart. 

Dr.  Hugo  Alberg  and  the  stolid-faced  Martha 
Wilmot  were  busily  whispering  in  a  corner  of  Mrs. 
Willoughby's  sick  room  that  night  long  after  midnight 
had  sounded  on  the  frosty  air. 

For,  relaxed  and  broken  by  the  enforced  bravery  of 
her  struggle  with  the  father  of  her  lost  child,  the  Lady 
of  Lakemere  had  crept,  bruised  and  wounded  in  soul, 
back  to  die  or  live,  she  cared  not,  in  the  peopled 
wilderness  of  the  two  million  souls  who  envied  her  the 
lonely  luxuries  of  her  life. 

"She  has  had  one  dose,"  whispered  Alberg.  "She 
is  dead  safe  to  sleep  till  three  o'clock.  Give  her  this 
chloral  carefully  then.  Get  your  work  done  as  soon 
as  you  can,  and  at  eight  o'clock  your  expected  telegram 
will  call  you  away.  The  French  woman  will  watch  till 
the  new  nurse  comes.  You  have  seen  young  Vree- 
land?" 

The  Doctor's  eyes  glowed  like  live  coals. 

"Yes,"  she  whispered,  "It's  all  right"  and  her 
fingers  tightly  closed  on  the  vial.  ' '  I  am  to  meet  him  at 
the  ferry.  The  boat  sails  at  eleven.  It  will  be  all  right. " 


IN  THE  SWIM.  .      207 

Dr.  Alberg  passed  out  of  the  sick-room,  and  Justine 
Duprez  followed  him  down  the  stair. 

"You  have  left  all  where  she  can  do  the  work?" 
whispered  the  miserly  German,  who  already  had  the 
price  of  his  treason  in  his  pocket. 

"Yes,"  murmured  Justine.  "I'll  tell  you  all  when 
we  meet  down  there. " 

The  hoodwinked  physician  went  out  into  the  night, 
whispering:  "I'll  be  here  at  seven,  on  the  watch." 

It  was  but  half  an  hour  later  that  a  man  seated  in 
August  Helms'  darkened  basement  room  opened  his 
arms  as  Justine  Duprez  glided  in. 

"She  is  sleeping  like  a  log,"  murmured  the  maid. 
"Here  is  what  you  want.  The  nurse  will  do  her  part 
later,  and  be  sure  that  she  clears  out  at  once.  I'll  keep 
the  Doctor  with  me  here  till  noon.  She  will  get  her 
'sudden  telegram;'  he  will  be  here  on  duty;  while  he 
is  busied  with  the  new  nurse  Martha  will  go  and  rob  the 
Doctor's  office  and  rooms,  and  be  soon  on  the  sea. 
Then  we  are  all  covered. " 

The  schemer's  eyes  gleamed  as  he  pocketed  the  paper 
which  made  his  patroness  an  involuntary  traitor  to  her 
dangerous  trust.  Vreeland  breathed  in  a  happy 
triumph. 

"You  must  no,t  leave  your  rooms  to-morrow.  Keep 
in  sight  of  the  Kelly  girl,"  warned  the  Frenchwoman. 
"Now  I  will  steal  away. ' ' 

There  were  words  murmured  which  bound  the  two 
wretches  to  each  other,  and  they  laughed  as  they 
pointed  to  the  janitor's  new  telegraphic  instrument 
and  telephone. 

"A  great  convenience  to  the  patrons  of  the  Circassia, " 
laughed  Vreeland.  He  alone  knew  how  deftly  the 
crafty  August  Helms  had  seized  upon  Mrs.  Wil- 

14 


208  IN  THE  SWIM. 

loughby's  absence  of  the  day  to  effect  the  joining  of  the 
skilfully  hidden  wires  tapping  the  lines  which  led  to 
the  Hanover  Bank  building  and  joined  Judge  Endicott's 
private  office  to  Mrs.  Willoughby's  pearl  boudoir. 

"When  I  have  the  extra  instrument  in  my  own 
room,"  he  exulted,  "then  if  Miss  Romaine  Garland  is 
not  approachable  I  will  soon  find  another  more 
malleable. 

"But  the  secret  firm  of  Endicott  &  Willoughby  will 
talk  into  my  ear  when  they  think  that  the  whole  world 
is  theirs.  It's  a  royal  plan ,"  he  mused. 

Justine's  gliding  step  had  died  away  when  Harold 
Vreeland  crept  out  like  a  guilty  thief. 

"Where  shall  I  hide  this  original,"  he  muttered,  as 
he  disappeared  in  the  darkness.  " 1 must  find  a  place 
in  my  rooms,  I  cannot  carry  it  about  me. " 

When  he  had  regained  the  Elmleaf  he  dared  hardly 
breathe  as  he  carefully  examined  the  original  document 
which  tied  up  the  fate  of  the  Sugar  Syndicate  with 
that  of  men  whose  very  names  he  feared  to  utter. 

' '  She  is  in  my  power  at  last.     Her  ruin  is  in  my  hands. 

"And  now  to  bring  her  into  my  arms  to  be  my  fond 
tool  and  willing  slave. " 

There  was  no  "stock  plunging"  for  two  long  weeks,  as 
the  illness  of  Mrs.  Willoughby  dragged  on,  and  Martha 
Wilmot  was  well  across  the  seas  before  the  police  of 
New  York  City  had  ceased  to  blunder  around  after  the 
ungrateful  nurse  who  had  seemingly  robbed  her  bene 
factor's  office  and  then  decamped. 

Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  was  astounded  at  the  golden 
sunshine  of  Senator  James  Garston's  favors  which 
followed  on  that  luncheon  at  the  Plaza  Hotel  which 
had  made  him  a  sworn  knight  in  the  rosy  chains  of 
Miss  Katharine  VanDyke  Norreys. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  209 

There  was  little  to  do,  for  the  market  was  quiescent. 

Miss  Mary  Kelly's  desk,  too,  was  vacant,  for  she  lay 
at  home  ill  with  a  fever,  and  it  was  at  the  side  of  the 
girl's  sick-bed  that  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby,  still  feeble 
and  shaken  in  soul,  suddenly  seized  a  photograph  from 
the  mantel.  "Whose  picture  is  this?"  she  cried, 
her  voice  trembling  in  the  throes  of  an  emotion  which 
swept  her  loving  soul  with  wonderment  and  a  new 
hope. 


BOOK  III— ON  A  LEE  SHORE. 


CHAPTER  XL 

MISS  MARBLE'S  WATERLOO!— A  LOST  LAMB!— HER 
VACANT  CHAIR.— SENATOR  GARSTON'S  DISCLOS 
URE.— SARA  CONYERS'  MISSION.— MISS  GARLAND'S 
DISHONORABLE  DISCHARGE.— A  DEFIANCE  TO 
THE  DEATH.— "ROBBED!" 

In  the  two  weeks  after  the  successful  affixing1  of 
those  snake -like  coils  of  wire  which  led  the  private 
messages  of  Mme.  Elaine  Willoughby  into  janitor 
Helms'  guarded  private  apartment,  Mr.  Harold  Vree- 
land  had  effected  a  thorough  understanding  with  that 
worthy.  The  trapping  devices  worked  to  a  charm. 
All  was  now  ready  for  a  final  betrayal. 

Secure  in  his  autocratic  rule,  August  Helms  buried 
his  shock  head  in  the  beer  seidl  and  tyrannized  with  a 
good-humored  roughness  over  the  cringing  tradesmen 
visiting  the  Circassia,  and,  a  greedy  gossip,  he  made 
his  "coign  of  vantage"  a  warm  nook  for  letter-carrier 
and  policeman  and  the  high  class  "upper  servants" 
of  the  families  who  lived  above  him,  in  a  royal 
Americanized  luxury  in  that  great  social  fortress,  the 
Circassia.  Helms  was  a  modern  tyrant. 

His  round,  gray-blue  eye  twinkled  as  Justine  Duprez 
would  slyly  slip  in  and  read  off  the  printed  tape  of  the 
Wheatstone  instrument,  a  duplicate  sender  and  receiver 
of  the  same  pattern  being  neatly  encased  in  a  pretty 


IN  THE  SWIM.  211 

cabinet  in  the  pearl  boudoir  above.  And  Mrs. 
Willoughby  doubted,  feared,  suspected — nothing. 

But  all  in  vain  did  Helms  record  the  telephoned 
messages  which  were  trapped  on  the  instrument  which 
was  his  especial  care.  There  was  nothing  to  record  of 
moment.  A  lull  seemed  to  hover  over  every  specula 
tive  interest  of  the  convalescent  woman. 

The  stillness  of  death  now  marked  Mr.  Harold 
Vreeland's  "business  department"  at  the  Elmleaf. 
The  illness  of  Mary  Kelly  had  cut  off  all  special 
communication  with  Mrs.  Willoughby  at  the  Circassia, 
and  he  had  been  forced  to  give  Miss  Romaine  Garland 
a  furlough  "under  full  pay"  until  Mrs.  Willoughby's 
trusted  operator  could  resume  her  desk.  The  young 
girl  shunned  any  tete-ct-tete  labors.  It  was  in  virtue  of 
a  warning  from  the  acute  Joanna  Marble  that  Vreeland 
gravely  bade  his  mysterious  beauty  rest  herself  and 
"await  further  orders." 

"She  is  of  the  finer  clay,"  warningly  remarked  Miss 
Joanna.  "One  toss  of  that  proud  head  and  she  would 
be  off  like  a  startled  fawn.  You  must  trust  to  a 
woman  — only  a  woman — to  lead  a  woman  on.  Beware 
of  rashness.  You  would  lose  her." 

There  was  an  innocuous  desuetude  now  clinging  to  all 
Vreeland's  crippled  plans. 

For,  soberly  attentive  in  his  duty  calls,  he  had  left 
daily  cards  at  the  Circassia,  supplemented  with  flowers 
whose  dreaming  beauty  might  have  touched  a  heart 
less  wrung  than  Elaine's. 

Admitted  but  once  to  her  presence,  he  marveled  at 
the  serious  change  in  her  appearance. 

After  receiving  her  orders,  he  now  knew  that  he 
was  free  for  a  month  to  follow  on  his  social  pleasures 
and  to  watch,  down  in  Wall  Street,  the  executive 


212  IN  THE  SWIM. 

matters  of  the  firm  and  note  the  gradual  liquidation, 
dollar  for  dollar,  of  all  proved  claims  against  the 
defunct  firm  of  Hathorn  &  Wolfe. 

He  recognized  the  cool-headed  sifting  of  Mr.  James 
Potter's  lawyers,  under  the  mandates  of  that  young 
Croesus  in  Paris. 

"A  fair,  square  settlement,  dollar  for  dollar,"  was 
Potter's  openly  avowed  business  plan. 

The  last  flurries  of  the  sudden  Sugar  speculations 
had  all  died  away,  and  Vreeland  at  last  believed  Mrs. 
Willoughby's  description  of  the  market. 

"There  is  nothing  in  sight.  I  shall  let  all  specula 
tion  alone  until  Dr.  Alberg  pronounces  me  able  to 
stand  business  excitement.  Your  time  is  your  own  till 
I  call  you  back  to  your  post  and  send  Miss  Kelly  down 
to  her  work  again.  She  will  act  as  my  private 
secretary  until  I  am  thoroughly  well. ' ' 

And  Vreeland,  now  fearful  that  he  might  be  as 
suddenly  dropped  as  Frederick  Hathorn  had  been, 
forbore  to  press  on  the  confidence  of  the  woman  whose 
thinned  cheeks  and  hollow  eyes  told  of  some  internal 
fires  eating  away  her  vitality.  He  was  unable  to 
extract  any  information  of  value  from  Dr.  Hugo 
Alberg.  And  the  thieving  nurse  was  now  safe  over 
the  sea — the  robbery  of  the  envelope  still  undiscovered. 

The  German  medical  worthy  was  really  puzzled.  In 
the  secrecy  of  Vreeland 's  rooms  he  confided  that 
though  all  the  depression  of  the  skillfully  administered 
overdoses  of  chloral  had  worn  away,  his  patient  was 
wearing  herself  to  the  verge  of  a  collapse. 

"Mental  trouble!  mental  trouble!"  he  growled. 
"Neither  Justine  nor  my  new  nurse  (whom  I  dare  not 
fully  trust)  can  gain  the  slightest  clew  to  her  sorrows. 
The  Madame  has  grown  cat-like,  too,  in  her  secretive 


IN  THE  SWIM.  213 

ways.  There  is  old  Endicott  always  hovering  around, 
and  that  newspaper  fellow,  Hugh  Conyers;  and, 
besides,  his  raw-boned  artist  sister,  Miss  Sara,  is 
closeted  with  her  nearly  every  evening.  What  they 
are  all  up  to  is  a  devil's  wonder. 

"Are  they  plucking  her  of  her  gold?  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  social  blackmail.  Any  lonely  woman  of  fortune 
usually  has  a  ring  of  hungry  sycophants  around  her. ' ' 

The  German  groaned  helplessly.  He  wanted  that 
same  gold,  and  wanted  it  badly. 

"And  you,  of  course,  think  that  you  should  be  the 
king-pin  of  the  whole  machine,"  sneered  Vreeland. 
The  half -angered  German  snorted  a  warning. 

"Look  out  for  yourself,"  growled  Alberg.  "She 
does  not  let  the  French  maid  go  out  of  her  sight  now, 
and  her  new  nurse  has  not  dared  to  leave.  Remember, 
I  will  hold  you  responsible  about  the  stolen  envelope. 
I  have  covered  up  my  own  tracks. ' ' 

And  then  he  proudly  exhibited  the  newspaper 
clipping  headed,  "An  Ungrateful  Protege,"  which 
described  the  heartless  pillaging  of  Dr.  Alberg' s  office 
and  rooms  by  "Miss  Martha  Wilmot, "  who  had 
"decamped for  parts  unknown."  The  police  detective 
opinions  and  the  portentous  interviews  were  all  set  out 
in  extenso. 

"When  Milady  finds  that  she  was  been  robbed,  too, 
then  look  out  for  squalls, ' '  was  the  parting  admonition 
of  the  Doctor.  It  brought  grave  shadows  to  Vree 
land 's  face. 

Harold  Vreeland  was  startled  when  his  dupe  left 
him.  For  it  now  flashed  over  him  that  his  evening 
cartes  de  visite  had  lately  only  elicited  the  same 
stereotyped  answer:  "Mrs.  Willoughby  is  too  unwell 
to  see  anyone." 


214  IN  THE  SWIM. 

He  had,  however,  "improved  the  shining  hours"  by  a 
flank  movement  to  the  Hotel  Savoy,  where  he  had 
drifted  far,  very  far,  into  the  good  graces  of  that 
sparkling  heiress,  Miss  Katharine  Norreys.  And  his 
daily  welcome  grew  warmer  with  each  visit.  He  was 
getting  on  famously. 

Senator  James  Garston's  absence  "on  Washington 
visits,"  with  the  usual  trips  of  a  busy  money  magnate 
from  fever  center  to  fever  center  of  the  golden  whirl 
pool,  had  left  the  young  man  to  "exploit"  the  many 
graces  of  the  tall,  willowy  blonde.  He  had  often 
mused  over  the  possibility  of  an  advantageous  alliance. 
"Here  is  a  woman,  young,  rich,  and  with  a  powerful 
Senatorial  backing.  I  might  even  be  able  to  get  inside 
the  ring.  For  now  I  hold  the  secret  of  a  combination 
which  no  one  dares  avow.  It  would  be  my  ruin, 
however,  to  use  it  until  the  time  comes  to  rule  or  crush 
Mrs.  Willoughby.  She  must  be  my  'golden  goose' — 
she  alone — and,  I  must  not  kill  her  too  soon. " 

A  long  introspection  proved  to  him  that  his  old 
"waiting  game"  was  the  only  safe  plan. 

"If  Garston  makes  up  to  me,  I  can  meet  him  half 
way.  Perhaps  he  might  exchange  the  secret  of  my  sly 
patroness'  early  life  for  the  golden  key  to  the  Sugar 
situation.  Together  we  could  surely  control  her.  And 
acting  alone,  I  might  easily  be  crushed  between  this 
secretly  warring  couple. 

"But,  when  their  dual  secret  is  mine,  then  I  can 
always  act  against  my  weakest  foe.  They  will  never 
dare  get  rid  of  me  then,"  he  craftily  premised, 
for  he  saw  gold  ahead — solid,  easily  earned  gold.  And 
the  busy  devil  in  his  cold  heart  laughed  and  made 
merry. 

But  one  circumstance  now  disquieted  him  as  to  the 


IN  THE  SWIM.  215 

resplendent  Miss  Katharine  VanDyke  Norreys — the 
absence  of  a  respectable,  social  womanly  background. 

There  was  no  doubt  as  to  the  tangible  luxury  of  her 
daily  life,  and  the  deep  respect  shown  by  the  Hotel 
Savoy  management  spoke  of  that  regular  payment  of 
bills  which  endears  "the  guest"  to  the  Boniface. 

"A  certain  number  of  women  friends  are  a  sine  qua 
non,  however,  to  a  'professed  beauty,'  "  mused  Vree- 
land. 

"Their  absence  is  as  remarkable  as  a  bedizened 
general  riding  out  all  alone  into  the  enemy's  land  with 
no  following.  I  presume  that  'prominent  Westerners' 
will  in  due  time  furnish  her  with  a  golden  woman  body 
guard.  Garston  being  a  widower,  too,  is  another  awk 
ward  thing." 

In  the  whole  embarrassing  situation,  all  that  Vreeland 
could  do  to  move  on  his  plans  was  to  make  a  stolen 
visit  to  the  rooms  of  the  janitor  of  the  Circassia. 

There  Justine  Duprez,  in  a  few  moments  of  stolen 
time,  breathlessly  told  him  of  the  nightly  conferences. 
"I  think  that  she  is  soon  going  abroad.  They  have 
maps  and  papers  out  every  evening.  So  far  she  has 
not  examined  her  hidden  paper.  When  she  does,  there 
will  be  a  wild  storm. 

"And  then  only  at  my  room  in  South  Fifth  Avenue 
dare  we  meet.  We  must  be  watchful.  For  the  little 
green-eyed  typewriter,  Mary  Kelly,  spies  on  me,  and 
I  find  her  blue-coated  friend,  too,  that  big  policeman, 
Daly  the  Roundsman,  following  me  around.  Look  out 
for  yourself.  You  and  I  must  stand  or  fall  together. 
She  may  give  us  both  the  slip.  If  she  went  over  to 
Paris,  and  took  me  with  her,  you  dare  not  follow  her; 
but  I  could  write  to  you  always,  and  give  you  a  safe 
address  to  write  to  me. ' ' 


2i6  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Vreeland  was  vaguely  disturbed  at  heart. 

"Can  we  trust  to  August  Helms?"  muttered  Vree 
land,  with  a  sudden  shiver  of  underlying  cowardice. 

"Yes,"  grimly  said  Justine,  "as  long  as  you  pay 
him,  and,  besides,  he  faces  state's  prison  in — you  know 
— his  own  part  of  the  business.  We  must  stand 
together  firmly,  and  you  lead  us  on." 

As  Vreeland  regained  his  deserted  rooms  in  the 
Elmleaf  he  strangely  recalled  the  last  bitter  denuncia 
tion  of  the  Lady  of  the  Red  Rose:  "I  leave  it  to 
the  future  to  punish  you." 

But  on  his  table,  two  letters  awaited  him  which 
brought  a  glow  of  secret  delight  to  his  heart. 

A  note  from  Senator  James  Garston  bidding  him 
name  a  day  for  a  tete-h-tdte  dinner  at  the  Plaza  closed 
with  these  words  of  hope : 

"I  wish  to  enlist  you  in  some  matters  of  moment 
which  may  turn  out  to  our  mutual  advantage.  You  are 
just  the  kind  of  a  man  that  I  feel  I  can  work  with. 
Please  telegraph  the  date  to  me  at  the  Arlington  Hotel, 
Washington,  and  I  will  meet  you — the  sooner  the 
better. 

"It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  this  is  a  matter 
leading  to  a  strictly  confidential  business  association, 
and  so,  not  a  word  of  my  coming,  even  to  Miss 
Norreys. 

"I  wish  to  see  you  alone,  and  if  you  will  act  with 
me  we  shall  both  soon  be  busy. 

"Just  the  leading  card  to  draw  him  into  my  hands. 
If  he  will  only  unbosom  himself  ever  so  little,  then  I 
can  soon  tie  Mrs.  Willoughby  down,  for  this  is  the  man 
she  fears.  Else  why  that  stolen  interview  at  Lake- 
mere?  And  from  all  knowledge  of  that,  even  Justine 


IN  THE  SWIM.  217 

was  excluded.     Let  him  but  come  forward,  and  they 
are  both  mine. ' ' 

The  second  letter  with  its  inclosure  was  the  result  of 
a  long  struggle  between  Miss  Joanna  Marble  and  the 
social  reluctance  of  that  "shy  bird,"  the  stately  Miss 
Romaine  Garland.  Joanna  had  gained  ground  at  last. 

Vreeland  smiled  grimly  as  he  read  the  corrupt 
agent' s  letter.  It  was  an  evening  invitation  couched 
in  his  interest  and,  skillfully  arranged. 

"You  are  to  come  at  10:30,  sir — fashionable  hours. 
You  will  find  me  ready  to  greet  you. 

"The  musicale  and  supper,  with  a  little  informal 
dancing,  will  enable  me  to  see  that  you  escort  Miss 
Garland  home.  I  shall  be  'suddenly  indisposed, '  and 
then  you  are  easily  the  Prince  Charming  of  the  occasion. 

"The  hostess  is  a  trusted  friend  of  mine. 

"But  how  'shy'  your  beautiful  bird  is.  Romaine  has 
called  several  times  on  me,  and  yet  she  will  not  give 
me  her  personal  address.  She  always  receives  her 
letters  at  Station  Q,  General  Delivery. 

"And  when  I  offered  to  come  for  her  she  said, 
quietly:  'I  will  call  for  you,  dear  Miss  Marble,  with 
a  carriage,  and  we  can  go  together. '  I  wonder  is  she 
one  of  us  after  all — a  sly  bird,  not  a  shy  bird?" 

The  address  given  was  that  of  a  respectably  situated 
residence  in  the  West  Eighties,  a  region  blessed  with 
slightly  stiffening  social  aspirations  toward  "elitedom, " 
as  the  journals  deftly  put  it. 

Senator  James  Garston  in  Washington  was  triumphant 
as  he  read  Vreeland's  dispatch  fixing  a  date  for  the 
private  dinner.  "I  can  easily  tole  this  vain  young 
fellow  on  with  Katharine,"  he  gleefully  cried.  "And 
if  I  can  only  reach  Margaret  Cranstoun's  child,  I  will- 
soon  bring  her  proud  head  back  to  my  bosom." 


2l8  IN  THE  SWIM. 

The  stern  soldier  of  fortune  mused  long  over  olden 
days,  his  days  of  youth  and  promise,  when  his  girl-wife 
was  only  a  plighted  bride,  a  woman  of  awakened  heart, 
"whose  head,  like  an  o'er- wearied  dove,  came  fluttering 
down  to  rest." 

"I  will  have  them  both,"  the  Senator  swore.  "Why 
should  my  life's  harvest  be  but  chaff? 

"For,  the  child  is  mine.  The  mother  was  once  mine, 
and  through  fire  and  flood  I'll  goon  and  prove  my  title 
against  the  whole  world. 

"If  this  young  favorite  can  only  find  me  the  hidden 
girl,  he  shall  not  want  for  fortune,  and  a  marriage 
with  Katharine  Norreys  will  tie  him  forever  to  me. ' ' 

It  all  promised  fair  enough. 

But,  plot  and  counterplot  was  forgotten  as  Harold 
Vreeland,  superbly  poised  in  his  habitual  adamantine 
calm,  edged  his  way  into  the  listening  circle  of  the 
"select  few"  who  had  been  gathered  at  Mrs.  Ollie 
Manson's  ambitious  musicale.  It  was  a  gala  evening 
in  the  West  End. 

A  furtive  conference  with  Miss  Marble  had  caused 
him  to  slip  into  the  hushed  rooms  during  the  period 
when  the  convives  were  hanging  breathlessly  upon  Miss 
Bettina  Goldvogel's  rendering  of  "Beauty's  Eyes." 
The  Prince  Charming' s  advent  was  unobserved. 

When  the  music  ceased,  Vreeland,  who  had  been 
gazing  upon  Romaine  Garland,  a  sweet  and  lonely 
figure,  seated  there  with  her  hands  clasped  and  her 
stately  head  bent,  was  alarmed  as  he  pressed  forward 
through  the  unfamiliar  throng. 

There  was  a  flush  of  sudden  crimson  on  the  tall 
girl's  cheek,  and  then,  a  swift  Diana,  she  passed  on,  a 
vision  of  stately  beauty  in  her  unfamiliar  evening 
dress.  The  excited  trickster  was  swift  in  her  pursuit. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  219 

Vreeland's  step  was  on  the  stair,  but  a  warning 
touch  at  once  recalled  him.  With  serpentine  swing, 
Miss  Joanna  Marble  sought  the  secret  precincts  of  the 
robing  rooms.  "Let  me  handle  this  matter,"  was  the 
whispered  comment.  "Wait  below  in  the  drawing- 
room.  ' ' 

The  effusive  welcome  of  Mrs.  Ollie  Manson  was  lost 
upon  the  man  who  had  caught  one  glance  of  aversion 
from  those  truthful  eyes  into  which  his  veiled  blandish 
ments  had  never  brought  one  gleam  of  tenderness  in 
those  long  hours  at  the  Elmleaf.  "Had  she  taken  the 
alarm?" 

When  he  was  released  from  the  little  circle  with  its 
sot  to  voce  comments,  "Clubman,"  "Rich  young  banker, 
my  dear,"  and  other  social  incense,  he  saw  the  thin, 
bewhiskered  Mr.  Solon  Manson,  with  a  startled  expres 
sion,  handing  Miss  Romaine  Garland  down  the  front 
steps  to  her  waiting  carriage. 

It  was  a  five  minutes  of  agony,  and  the  last  strains  of 
"Non  £  Ver"  had  reverberated  from  Sig.  Trombonini's 
swelling  bosom  before  Miss  Joanna  Marble,  her  face 
ashen  with  the  pallor  of  rage,  drew  Vreeland  into  the 
library. 

"You'll  never  see  that  young  tragedy  queen  again, " 
wrathfully  whispered  the  angered  woman.  "She  only 
told  her  driver  to  take  her  to  the  elevated  railroad 
station  at  Ninetieth  Street.  I  had  posted  the  little 
Manson  to  get  her  address. 

"There  must  be  someone  nearer  to  her  than  you 
ever  will  be.  She  is  as  deep  as  the  sea,  and  she  dared 
to  lash  me  with  her  icy  tongue.  'I  see  it  all,  Miss 
Marble,'  she  snapped  out.  'Your  friendly  invitation 
was  a  lure  to  put  me  on  a  false  basis  with  my  elegant 
employer. 


220  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"  'You  know  the  girl  breadwinner  has  no  protection 
against  such  a  man  but  the  honest  independence  of 
her  daily  labor.  Should  he  bend  to  woo  the  woman  who 
stands  mute  before  him  daily,  pencil  in  hand?  I  can 
not  meet  my  employer  socially.'  " 

"And  you?"  breathlessly  cried  Vreeland. 

' '  I  stood  mute ;  for  I  dared  g^o  no  further.  But  I 
have  her  picture,  at  any  rate.  I  will  have  her  secretly 
shadowed. 

"I  will  wager  my  head  there  is  some  one  nearer  and 
dearer  to  the  shy  bird  than  Miss  Majestic  would  have 
me  believe.  You  can't  blame  me;  I  did  my  best. 
But  it  has  been  a  Waterloo. ' ' 

The  listener  swore  a  mighty  oath  in  his  sudden 
jealous  rage.  Vreeland's  face  hardened. 

"See  here,  just  lock  her  picture  up  in  your  private 
safe.  Do  nothing — wait  for  me.  I'll  follow  up  the 
quest  alone. ' ' 

"And  there  is  five  hundred  dollars  for  your  obedi 
ence,  and  now,  silence.  I'll  stay  here  an  hour  and 
jolly  these  people." 

"To-morrow  at  ten  at  your  office.  And  if  you 
should  meet  her,  simply  ignore  the  matter. 

"I  shall  tell  her,  of  course,  that  Manson,  an  old 
friend,  asked  me  informally,  and  that  our  meeting  was 
brought  about  by  pure  chance. ' ' 

Miss  Joanna  Marble's  hard  laugh  rattled  in  her 
"bony  frame."  "I  think  our  ingenue,  young  as  she  is, 
has  already  a  little  commencement  of  a  '  past, '  a  little 
'jardin  secret,'  where  flowers  of  other  days  still 
bloom. 

"But  I  am  in  your  hands.  I  will  obey  you.  You 
are  the  paymaster,  and  you  know  I  am  not  'in  business 
for  my  health. '  " 


IN  THE  SWIM.  221 

On  his  homeward  way,  Vreeland  studied  the  stars 
with  an  anxious  brow. 

"She  shall  not  get  away  from  me,"  he  swore.  "I 
wonder  if  Mary  Kelly  and  she  are  now  only  duplicate 
spies  of  the  woman  who  once  had  a  use  for  me,  and 
now  fears  the  poor  tools  she  has  used.  Did  I  get  at 
the  whole  Hathorn  secret? 

"That  is  forever  sealed  in  poor  Fred's  grave." 

He  started  as  a  brilliant  golden  star  trailed  over  the 
inky  blackness  of  the  night. 

"That's  bad  luck,"  he  gloomily  reflected,  as  he 
cursed  the  wary  young  girl's  divination  of  his  clumsy 
social  trick.  ' '  It  was  a  wretched  botch, ' '  he  said,  as  he 
angrily  dismounted  at  his  own  door,  and  the  failure 
over-shadowed  his  gloomy  slumbers. 

Three  days  later,  when  Harold  Vreeland  gazed 
across  the  dinner  table  at  Senator  James  Garston's 
immutable  face,  he  wondered  what  future  intrigues 
were  hidden  behind  the  mask  of  the  strong  man's 
assumed  carelessness.  They  were  alone,  hidden  in  a 
retired  room  of  the  Millionaires'  Club,  and,  as  of  old, 
Harold  Vreeland,  played  his  waiting  game.  The  two 
men  were  fairly  matched — past  masters  of  deceit. 

Greed,  ambition,  revenge,  a  desire  to  reach  the  gilded 
coterie  of  New  York's  crtme  de  la  crtme,  all  these 
motives  Vreeland  suspected,  but  not  that  an  old  love, 
revived  in  a  burning  passion,  a  mad  desire  for  repos 
session,  thrilled  the  hardened  heart  of  the  man  "who 
had  once  thrown  a  pearl  away,  richer  than  all  his 
tribe." 

Vreeland  was  wary  and  yet  uneasy.  His  heart's 
desire,  easily  won  wealth,  now  seemed  to  recede,  like 
the  pot  of  gold  buried  beneath  the  rainbow.  He  swore 
to  make  no  mistake  in  the  impending  deal. 


222  IN  THE  SWIM. 

After  a  long  mental  debate,  he  had  decided  upon 
separate  hiding  places  for  the  copy  and  the  original  of 
the  one  document,  which,  a  two-edged  scimetar,  gave 
him  a  crushing  control,  he  fondly  fancied,  over 
Alynton,  Garston,  and  also  the  Lady  of  Lakemere. 

"I  must  be  careful,"  he  mused.  Either  of  the 
men  would  be  a  relentless  foe1,  and  to  him  Mrs. 
Willoughby,  now  represented  only  incarnated  dollars 
and  cents.  Lucre,  not  love. 

With  all  his  deeply-laid  plots,  he  was  baffled  at  all 
points,  for  his  own  rooms  were  still  every  day  deserted 
save  by  the  adroit  valet. 

With  tears  of  rage,  Miss  Joanna  Marble  gave  up  to 
him  the  picture  of  Romaine  Garland,  the  one  visible 
token  of  that  young  Diana's  existence. 

"I  have  failed,  and  even  the  Mansons  can  get  no 
trace.  I  have  even  sent  the  picture  around  among  all 
the  hackmen  as  far  as  the  Harlem  River,"  was 
Joanna's  meager  report.  "The  girl  has  simply  van 
ished  and  left  no  trace  behind. 

"The  man  who  'began  her  past'  for  her  has  probably 
spirited  the  young  vixen  away.  It  was  a  masterly 
change  of  base,  for  she,  sly  one,  took  wing  at  once  on 
recognizing  that  you  would  like  to  be  something  more 
than  an  employer." 

And  so,  with  orders  for  a  redoubled  energy  in  research, 
and  the  hope  of  a  glittering  reward,  Joanna  Marble 
returned  to  her  mart  of  souls  and  her  veiled  brokerage 
of  innocence. 

A  comprehensive  business  letter  from  Mrs.  Elaine 
Willoughby  had  at  last  directed  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland 
to  relieve  Horton  Wyman  as  general  supervisor  of  the 
firm.  The  veiled  steel  hand  under  the  velvet  glove 
was  concealed  there. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  223 

"You  will  have  ample  assistance  in  Noel  Endicott 
and  Maitland.  Your  partner  needs  a  few  weeks'  rest. 
Anything  private  will,  of  course,  be  communicated  to 
you  by  Judge  Endicott.  I  shall  await  my  own  delayed 
recovery,  and  perhaps,  a  fortnight  at  Lakemere  may 
restore  me. 

"Of  course,  as  I  shall  keep  Miss  Kelly  with  me, 
there  will  be  no  business  transacted  uptown.  I  only 
depend  upon  you  now  for  a  daily  watch  during  business 
hours  of  the  firm's  affairs.  As  Noel  Endicott  has  been 
made  a  Stock  Exchange  member,  he  will  handle  the 
Board  matters,  and  you  will  hear  my  orders  from  Judge 
Endicott  through  him." 

The  letter  was  curt,  chilling,  and  still  courteous.  It 
was  however  a  polite  closing  of  the  social  doors  of  the 
Circassia,  and  the  anxious  Vreeland,  by  a  prompt 
evening  call,  soon  verified  the  fact  of  the  temporary 
absence  of  the  woman  who  seemed  to  easily  escape  his 
toils.  There  was  no  one  at  his  rooms  to  handle  the 
concealed  wires  now. 

And  Justine  Duprez,  too,  had  been  snapped  away 
out  of  his  sight  by  the  unannounced  departure  of  her 
mistress.  He  was  helpless  now  to  continue  any 
effective  espionage. 

Even  Helms,  the  janitor,  mournfully  shook  his  head. 
"The  wires  are  all  silent,"  he  grumbled.  "The  mail, 
too,  all  now  goes  direct  to  Lakemere,  and  so  I've 
nothing  to  tell  you."  But  he  wanted  a  handsome 
"temporary  loan"  just  as  usual. 

A  lurid  ray  of  warning  light  soon  gleamed  upon 
Vreeland's  path  in  a  letter  brought  by  Dr.  Alberg  from 
the  beleaguered  Frenchwoman.  It  was  only  a  scrawl, 
but  a  scrawl  of  unmistakably  grave  import. 

"There  is  danger  hovering  near,  man  amant."  she 

15 


224  IN  THE  SWIM. 

warned.  "The  old  judge,  the  newspaper  man,  and 
his  ugly,  raw-boned  sister  have  all  been  here,  with  the 
Kelly,  little  green-eyed  Irish  devil,  and  the  other  girl, 
the  pretty  one,  who  was  her  assistant  with  you. 

"Dieu!  how  handsome  that  woman  is.  But  they  are 
all  gone  away  now  save  the  old  judge,  who  comes  every 
day,  going  back  at  night,  and  the  Kelly  woman,  who 
goes  home  Saturday  night.  The  other  girl  went  away 
at  night  with  the  two  Conyers.  Watch  the  Kelly.  She 
may  come  down  to  your  office  to  spy.  I  fear  that 
Madame  has  already  missed  the  paper.  Remember, 
we  must  stand  and  fall  together,  you  and  I.  If  I  ever 
find  that  dark-eyed  beauty  near  you,  some  dark  night, 
look  out  for  a  dash  of  vitriol  in  her  pretty  face.  That's 
all.  You  would  not  dare  to  punish  me !  I  will  have  no 
rivals!  You  belong  to  me  now!"  Vreeland  groaned  in 
his  helpless  rage. 

Harold  Vreeland's  heart  beat  wildly  as  Senator 
Garston,  after  locking  the  door,  drew  two  chairs  into 
the  middle  of  the  room.  He  studied  the  young  man's 
face  and  said  slowly: 

"Vreeland,  I  am  now  in  a  position  to  make  a  fortune 
for  you.  I  can  easily  see  that  you  depend  on  Mrs. 
Willoughby  in  some  way.  I  want  you  to  take  a  few 
moments  to  consider  whether  you  will  not  put  yourself 
unreservedly  into  my  hands,  and  so,  in  helping  me, 
help  yourself.  You  know  what  the  favor  of  rich 
women  finally  amounts  to.  The  day  that  the  wind 
blows  cold  you  are  left  out  in  the  street.  But  I  can 
put  you  'on  velvet. '  Now,  don't  speak  too  quickly. 
It  is  a  very  serious  matter.  You  and  I  can  work 
like  men  together,  with  no  change  of  heart. " 

"What  do  you  wish  of  me?"  guardedly  demanded 
Vreeland.  "It  must  be  nothing  inimical  to  Mrs. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  225 

Willoughby 's  stock  interests.  I  am  no  babbler,  and 
no  traitor." 

1 '  Your  character  is  perfectly  safe  in  my  hands, ' '  half 
sneered  Garston.  "I  merely  want  you  to  help  me,  and 
make  your  own  future,  while  not  injuring  your  lovely 
employer. 

"I  know  already,  through  Alynton,  that  you're  only 
a  figurehead  in  the  firm,  and,  by  the  way,  he  is  pushing 
that  nephew  of  his  right  in  as  fast  as  he  can,  between 
you  and  Mrs.  Willoughby.  He  does  not  like  you.  A 
touch  of  jealousy."  The  chance  shot  told,  and  it 
cut  Vreeland  to  the  quick.  Garston  smiled  sardoni 
cally. 

Harold  Vreeland' s  face  was  livid  with  rage  as  the 
strong  man  calmly  gazed  into  his  eyes  and  said :  "If 
you  have  ever  nourished  the  idea  of  managing  Elaine 
Willoughby,  you  can  dismiss  it.  The  lady  is  some 
years  your  senior,  and  moreover,  there  may  be  prior 
claims.  A  man  like  you,  with  your  present  standing 
and  possible  future,  should  only  mate  with  someone 
like  Katharine  Norreys.  The  maternal  tinge  to  a 
marriage  with  an  elder  woman  is  not  the  thing  for  a 
man  of  your  marked  gifts,  your  position,  and  your 
career.  You  can  do  better.  The  afternoon  sun  of  life 
has  little  real  warmth  in  it.  Be  warned  in  time." 

Vreeland  sprang  to  his  feet.  "It  seems  that  you  are 
taking  an  unwarrantable  liberty,"  he  hotly  protested. 
He  had  now  dropped  the  waiting  game — but  he  had 
fallen  into  able  hands. 

' '  Nonsense, ' '  calmly  replied  the  Senator-elect.  ' '  You 
will  be  left  out  in  the  street  in  three  months  if  you  let 
the  cold-hearted  Alynton  dominate  that  woman's 
changing  mind.  He  wishes  to  marry  her  himself.  I 
say  that  he  shall  not!  Now,  you  see,  our  game  is  the 
15 


226  IN  THE  SWIM. 

same.  He  has  already  enough  power  to  displace  you — 
for  reasons  entirely  beyond  your  control. ' ' 

The  words  "Sugar  syndicate"  leaped  to  Vreeland's 
pale  lips,  but  he  mastered  himself.  "Tell  me  the 
truth.  Give  me  the  whole  game.  Show  me  where  you 
can  secure  me — and  then  I  am  your  man.  But  I  will 
not  be  paid  off  with  fairy  tales."  James  Garston 
laughed  easily. 

"I  am  a  good  paymaster,  and  I've  already  learned 
my  cue.  Nothing  for  nothing  in  New  York.  I  would 
never  dare  to  trifle  with  a  wideawake  man  like  you, ' ' 
and  then  Vreeland  bowed  and  smiled. 

"Then,  what  must  I  do  for  you?"  demanded  Vree 
land,  who  was  now  thoroughly  off  his  guard. 

The  Senator  studied  his  man  carefully.  "I  think 
that  I'll  trust  you,"  he  slowly  said.  Standing  before 
his  would-be  dupe  he  said,  carelessly.  "I  had  sup 
posed  that  you  knew  that  Mrs.  Willoughby  was  still 
bound  in  a  marriage  which  would  make  all  your  sea 
son's  work  'love's  labor  lost.'  " 

The  secret  was  out  at  last ! 

Vreeland's  eyes  were  downcast.  He  tried  to  guard 
his  tell-tale  face. 

"And  has  a  daughter  now  old  enough  to  be  a  more 
fitting  wife  to  you  than  even  that  Indian-summer 
beauty — the  mother,"  remorselessly  continued  the 
Senator,  as  Vreeland  sprang  to  his  feet  in  a  torment. 

"Now,  I  want  you  to  find  that  daughter  for  me — and 
if  you  do,  your  fortune  is  made."  He  quietly  added: 
"You  see  the  presence  of  that  girl  would  spoil  the 
Alynton  marriage,  and  Elaine  Willoughby  has  only  a 
heart  of  stone.  She  has  merely  drawn  Alynton  on  by 
an  assumed  resistance.  My  lady  has  played  her  cards 


IN  THE  SWIM.  227 

well.  I  want  to  find  the  girl — and  break  off  that  match 
— for  business  reasons. " 

The  flood  of  burning  jealousy  which  swept  over 
Vreeland's  mind  now  washed  away  the  last  vestige  of 
his  calculating  prudence.  Alynton  should  never  have 
the  Lady  of  Lakemere. 

For  a  moment  a  torturing,  haunting  resemblance  was 
strangely  made  plain  to  him.  And  now  he  would  hunt 
down  that  lost  lamb  which  had  escaped  both  himself 
and  that  thirsty  she-wolf,  Joanna  Marble.  There  was 
a  double  motive  for  the  chase  now. 

"Is  that  the  girl  whom  you  are  searching  for?"  sud 
denly  exclaimed  the  excited  broker,  as  he  thrust 
Romaine  Garland's  picture  before  the  gaze  of  the 
astonished  Western  millionaire. 

There  was  a  cry — an  echo  of  the  buried  past  surging 
now  from  Garston's  breast.  The  echo  of  a  love  long 
dead. 

' '  By  God !  It  is  Margaret  herself — at  eighteen.  Tell 
me — tell  me — where  did  you  get  this?"  He  had  seized 
Vreeland  by  both  hands  and  the  picture  lay  between 
them,  smiling  up  at  the  excited  men  from  the  wine- 
stained  table. 

Vreeland  bitterly  thought  of  the  vacant  chair  in  his 
luxurious  den — the  chair  that  Romaine  Garland  had 
quitted  forever.  He  began  to  see  that  plainly  which  as 
hitherto  had  only  glimmered  "as  in  a  glass  darkly." 
And  for  a  second  time,  Fate  had  dealt  him  a  heavy 
blow.  She  had  escaped  him  as  scathless  as  the  "Lady 
of  the  Red  Rose."  He  had  a  foothold  left,  however. 

"That  is  my  secret,  sir,"  sharply  said  Vreeland,  as 
he  wrenched  himself  loose,  and  pocketed  the  photo 
graph  sent  "for  inspection  to  Miss  Marble." 

' '  And  that  secret  is  for  sale  to  you,  on  fair  conditions. ' ' 


228  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"Let  us  make  instant  terms,  Vreeland,"  cried 
Garston,  dropping  into  a  chair.  He  was  eager  now. 
He  reached  out  for  a  glass  of  cognac. 

"Your  game  is  mine — and  mine  is  yours.  If  you 
find  that  girl  for  me  I'll  make  your  fortune — I  swear  it. 
I'll  put  you  into  the  strongest  secret  circle  in  America. 

"You  shall  handle  all  my  private  affairs — but  I  must 
have  a  gage  of  your  fidelity — even  when  I've  paid  the 
price." 

He  watched  the  breathless  schemer,  who  faltered : 
"And  that  is,  when  you  marry  Katharine  Norreys  there 
will  be  no  secrets  between  us.  You  shall  have  money 
now — but  to  open  all  the  doors  even  to  you  of  the 
'Illuminati,'  you  must  be  mine  in  interest — forever." 
And  then  they  opened  their  hearts  to  each  other  for 
the  lust  of  gold,  revenge  and  power. 

The  stars  were  low  in  the  west  before  the  two  wary 
adversaries  had  chaffered  along  to  a  reasonable  basis  of 
bargain  and  sale. 

"To-morrow — I  ask  only  till  to-morrow  to  think  all 
over, ' '  was  the  truce  which  parted  them.  And  so  each 
knew  no  more  of  the  other's  heart  secrets  at  the  last 
than  those  impulsive  outbreaks  of  Nature  which  will 
not  down.  But  they  had  drifted  very  near  on  life's  sea. 
There  were  the  wildest  dreams  of  a  brilliant  future 
thronging  Vreeland' s  brain  as  he  left  the  Millionaires' 
Club  to  find  Dr.  Hugo  Alberg  in  his  midnight  haunt 
where  the  Kegelbahn — beer  of  the  stoutest  Munich 
brew,  and  the  songs  of  the  Vaterland  invited  the 
Teuton  to  these  cheap  luxuries,  recalling  his  happy 
student  days.  Vreeland  soon  caught  his  gloomy  bird. 

Vreeland  quickly  led  the  startled  Doctor  aside.  He 
handed  over  to  him  five  one-hundred-dollar  bills. 
"Get  out  of  here  by  the  first  morning  train.  Make  any 


IN  THE  SWIM.  229 

professional  excuse.  Find  out  who  is  up  at  Lakemere 
with  your  patient,  and,  from  Justine  you  must  get  me 
the  whereabouts  of  that  dark-haired  girl  who  worked 
for  me.  The  pretty  one  that  you  saw  in  my  room — 
Miss  Romaine  Garland. " 

"I  will  be  waiting  for  you  at  your  rooms  on  your 
return — and,  bid  Justine  not  to  dare  to  write  or  send  a 
message  save  by  you.  There  is  the  devil  to  pay  some 
where!" 

Neither  Senator  Garston  nor  Harold  Vreeland  were 
to  be  found  on  the  busy  Saturday  which  dawned  upon 
them.  For  Vreeland,  telegraphing  down  to  the  office 
that  he  was  called  out  of  town  for  the  half-holiday, 
closeted  himself  with  a  downtown  detective  firm. 

Long  before  the  hour  for  Alberg's  return,  Vreeland 
knew  that  Hugh  Conyers  was  absent  at  New  Orleans, 
on  a  mission  for  the  ' '  Clarion, ' '  and  that  his  art-loving 
sister  had  accompanied  him,  en  route  to  Colorado 
Springs,  for  the  rest  of  the  raw  spring  season.  Their 
dainty  little  apartment  was  closed  and  locked. 

There  were  thus  two  dangerous  enemies  out  of  the 
way. 

At  five  o'clock  the  travel- wearied  Dr.  Alberg 
returned  with  his  budget  of  news. 

"There  has  been  a  devil  of  a  scene  up  at  Lakemere," 
growled  the  Teuton.  "I  found  my  handsome  vixen  of 
a  patient  in  a  decidedly  healthy  rage.  This  Senator 
Garston  came  up  on  a  train  an  hour  later  than  mine. 

"There  was  a  violent  quarrel  between  him  and  our 
patroness.  Justine  could  only  linger  near  enough  to 
hear  loud  voices,  and  soon,  Garston  dashed  away  as 
madly  as  if  the  Wild  Huntsman  was  after  him.  Now, 
our  one  friend  bids  me  tell  you  that  Sara  Conyers  has 
really  gone  West  on  business  for  Mrs.  Willoughby. 


230  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"The  pretty  fraulein  has  vanished,  too — but  she  is  in 
some  plot.  The  night  before  the  Conyers  woman  left, 
the  three  sat  up  nearly  the  whole  night.  Justine  would 
have  followed  this  girl,  but  she  can  not  manage  to  be 
even  a  moment  out  of  the  mistress'  sight.  And  old 
Endicott  comes  and  goes  every  day.  Justine  hates  the 
very  shadow  of  the  Garland  woman,  for  Madame  has 
taken  one  of  her  sudden  fits  of  fancying  a  new  face — 
you  know  how  that  lasts, "  growled  Alberg. 

Harold  Vreeland  sought  out  Senator  Garston,  whom 
he  found  at  dinner,  with  the  sparkling  California 
beauty  at  his  side.  A  few  whispers  were  exchanged, 
and  then,  an  appointment  was  soon  made.  Garston 
gave  no  sign  to  the  young  man  that  he  had  listened  that 
day  to  a  defiance  unto  death.  "He  is  a  liar,  too," 
mused  Vreeland,  and  yet,  for  all  this,  he  forgot,  too,  to 
even  mention  that  he  had  been  out  of  town. 

And  yet,  gazing  into  Katharine  Norreys'  inviting 
eyes,  as  he  bade  her  adieu,  Vreeland  found  that  part 
of  his  "purchase  price"  to  be  wonderfully  fair. 

"I  could  go  easily  through  life  with  her,  backed  by  a 
senatorial 'push,' and  plenty  of  money. 

"But  I  will  have  it  all  secured.  The  money  all  paid 
down  first.  Garston  then  becomes  my  real  employer. 
In  this  ominous  drift,  I  must  change  ships  at  sea — 
always  a  risky  business,  but  yet  the  bold-hearted  Perry 
won  laurels  and  immortality  thereby.  And  yet,  this 
man  may  be  tricking  me."  Vreeland,  after  cogitation, 
realized  that  Garston  had  not  actually  lied,  but  he  had 
prudently  held  back  the  truth.  ' '  I  suppose  that  he  is 
holding  the  old  secret  of  her  early  life  over  her. 

"Who  the  dickens  was  the  missing  man?  This  girl 
must  have  had  a  father.  And  that  father  hailed  Elaine 
Willoughby  as  '  Margaret'  in  her  heyday. ' ' 


IN  THE  SWIM.  231 

"I  suppose  this  cold,  granite -hearted  upstart  has 
blackmailed  his  way  into  the  secret  pool  of  the  'sweet 
ness  and  light. ' 

"Sugar  and  Oil  is  a  most  profitable  amorphous 
mixture. 

"And  he  would  now  like  to  block  Alynton's  little 
game — and  so  to  be  free  to  hold  the  past  over  this 
wonder-working  woman's  head." 

"Senator  Garston,"  cried  Vreeland,  "you  may  yet 
find  that  love  will  not  be  led  in  chains.  Of  all  hells  on 
earth,  the  embrace  of  an  unwilling  woman  is  the 
coldest  revenge  of  an  outraged  Nature.  And  he 
should  beware  of  Elaine — if  she  can,  she  will  strike 
back  at  him  like  a  wounded  lioness. 

"And  for  my  own  safety  there  is  but  one  rule,  'Cash 
down  on  the  delivery  of  goods. ' 

"And  so  far,  he  only  proposes  partial  payments — 
with  Katharine  Norreys  as  our  mutual  gage  of  faith  to 
the  last. ' ' 

Agnostic  as  he  was,  Vreeland  was  forced  to  admit 
that  Garston's  disclosure  of  Mrs.  Willoughby's  marital 
chains  had  swept  away  his  last  hope  of  ever  being  the 
master  of  Lakemere. 

She  was 'still  the  wife  of  some  unknown  John  Doe — 
and  Vreeland  knew  that  Garston  would  never  babble. 

The  young  broker  was  ready  now  to  play  his  last  card 
to  make  his  position  between  the  two  enemies  impreg 
nable.  He  was  again  at  Life's  crossroads.  But  he 
had  a  last  little  game  to  play  out  before  a  final  decision. 

He  was  the  picture  of  elegant  prosperity  as  he  picked 
his  way  up  the  long  stairs  of  the  modest  apartment  on 
a  side  street  where  the  humble  Kelly  family  gazed  from 
a  four-story  window  upon  a  row  of  private  stables 
opposite. 


232  IN  THE  SWIM. 

The  hour  was  opportune,  and  his  own  coupe*  awaited 
him  below.  The  hands  of  the  little  clock  marked  nine 
as  Vreeland  raised  his  hat  to  the  white-haired  old  Irish 
mother  seated  there,  prayer-book  in  hand,  and  giving 
a  touch  of  dignity  to  the  plain  little  "parlor." 

The  keen-eyed  young  schemer  quickly  noted  the 
photograph  of  Miss  Romaine  Garland  proudly  given 
the  place  of  honor  upon  the  mantel. 

Before  he  could  announce  his  errand,  Miss  Mary 
Kelly  painfully  limped  in  from  the  other  room,  whence 
a  murmur  of  voices  had  told  him  of  her  presence.  If 
he  could  only  trap  her  into  revealing  Romaine 's 
address ! 

All  his  gentle  gravity  of  manner  was  manifest  as 
Vreeland  explained  his  personal  call.  4 '  I  desire  to  send 
to  Miss  Garland  her  uncollected  monthly  salary,  and 
also  to  obtain  some  private  papers  which  must  be  yet 
in  her  possession, ' '  began  Vreeland,  carefully  studying 
the  girl's  plaintive  pale  face. 

"If  you  would  kindly  give  me  Miss  Garland's  pres 
ent  address,  I  can  send  a  messenger  to  her.  She  prob 
ably  forgot  the  papers." 

Vreeland  paused,  and  then  his  heart  hardened,  as  the 
young  girl's  fearless  eyes  looked  him  through  and 
through. 

There  was  an  indictment  in  her  innocent  glances 
which  made  him  mutter,  "Miss  Majesty  has  surely 
blabbed  about  the  Ollie  Manson  musicale.  That  was  a 
clumsy  failure. ' ' 

"I  can  not  give  you  Miss  Garland's  address,  Mr. 
Vreeland, ' '  said  the  girl,  with  an  uneasy  glance  at  her 
old  mother. 

"She  has  left  New  York  City  for  good,  and  I  think 
has  gone  to  California, ' ' 


IN  THE  SWIM.  233 

"When  she  said  'good-by'  to  me,  she  mentioned  that 
she  would  not  care  to  continue  as  the  only  woman 
worker  in  your  employ.  I  presume  that  you  will  hear 
from  her  through  Miss  Marble's  agency." 

Vreeland's  quick  wit  told  him  that  here  was  "no 
thoroughfare."  And  all  his  mean  suspicions  had  been 
strengthened  by  Joanna  Marble's  world-worn  innuen 
does.  His  lips  curled  in  an  unmanly  sneer.  "Ah, 
yes!  I  think  I  shall  write  to  Miss  Marble,  and  now 
inform  her  of  the  young  woman's  dishonorable  dis 
charge.  I  can,  of  course,  send  her  salary  to  the 
agency,  and  as  for  my  papers,  I  presume  that  they  went 
to  California  with  her 'character. '  Respectable  young 
women  are  usually  not  ashamed  to  own  their  residence. 
Did  she  tell  you  this  up  at  Lakemere?" 

His  voice  was  cutting  and  insulting  in  its  brutal  sneer. 

The  frightened  semi-cripple  was  struggling  to  her 
feet  to  leave  the  room,  when  a  brawny,  blue-coated 
young  giant  dashed  through  the  still  opened  door. 

He  seized  Vreeland's  wrist  with  an  iron  clutch  and 
twisted  him  around  before  the  startled  young  girl,  while 
the  old  mother's  hands  went  up  in  a  pious  appeal. 
There  was  the  hatred  of  hell  on  Vreeland's  face  as  he 
struggled  in  that  vise-like  grip. 

"Forbear,  Dan  Daly!  Remember  that  he's  under 
our  roof, ' '  the  aged  widow  cried. 

The  young  roundsman  fixed  a  truculent  glance 
upon  the  astonished  Vreeland.  "Apologize,  both  to 
the  present  and  absent,  you  great  hulking  coward," 
he  cried.  "If  it  were  not  for  my  blue  coat,  I'd  throw 
you  down  stairs.  And  now  get  out  the  way  you  came. 
Be  quick,  too,  about  it!" 

With  a  mumbled  apology,  crestfallen  and  raging  at 
heart,  Vreeland  sneaked  down  stairs. 


234  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"I  was  a  fool  to  get  into  this  low  Irish  nest,"  he 
growled,  as  he  sprang  into  his  coupe". 

When  safely  back  at  the  "Elmleaf"  he  reviewed 
the  whole  situation.  "There's  a  cold  plant  here! 
That  woman  has  never  left  this  town.  I  think 
that  I'll  work  the  wires  to  Colorado  Springs,  and 
the  detectives  can  handle  California  forme." 

He  went  out  to  a  gay  little  late  supper,  not  realizing 
that  Dan  Daly  the  Roundsman  had  just  sworn  a  mighty 
oath  to  "keep  his  eye"  on  the  elegant  member  of  the 
"Swell  Mob,"  and  all  Daly's  oaths  were  sworn  to  for 
love's  sweet  sake,  and  were  doubly  iron  clad. 

It  was  with  a  shiver  of  impending  fear  that  Vreeland, 
pausing  at  a  cigar  store  on  Herald  Square,  accident 
ally  overheard  the  night  chatter  of  two  late  newspaper 
Bohemians:  "I  always  thought  Hugh  Conyers  was  not 
a  marrying  man,  but  it  seems  that  he  is  a  quiet,  sneak 
ing  lover  after  all. ' ' 

"Down  at  Philadelphia  the  other  day  I  saw  him  put 
his  sister,  Sara,  on  board  a  State  line  boat  for  Europe, 
and  the  prettiest  young  woman  I  ever  saw,  a  staving- 
looking  brunette,  was  with  the  old  maid  artist.  Hugh 
was  mighty  affectionate,  too,  I  can  tell  you. ' ' 

"Liars  and  deceivers  all,"  raged  Vreeland.  "But 
I've  got  their  whole  game  now.  They  have  run  her 
over  to  Europe.  I  can  find  her  there  easily." 

He  went  home,  triumphant  in  his  future  plans,  little 
dreaming  that  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby  had  called 
Justine  to  her  bedside  at  Lakemere  a  half  an  hour 
before.  "I  have  been  robbed,  and  robbed  here,  in  my 
own  house,"  the  lady  sternly  said.  "You  alone  know 
of  the  paper  hidden  in  my  corset.  Explain  at  once. ' ' 


IN  THE  SWIM.  235 

CHAPTER   XII. 
MINE  AND  COUNTERMINE. 

The  mistress  of  Lakemere  was  frozen  into  a  forced 
calm  as  she  keenly  eyed  Justine  Duprez  standing  with 
open-eyed  astonishment  before  the  woman  whose  heart 
was  still  racked  with  the  sharp  battle  with  Garston. 
But  Justine's  heart  was  tranquil.  The  nurse  was  far 
away  over  the  seas  now. 

The  one  man  living  who  knew  the  vital  secret  of  her 
life  had  thrown  off  his  mask  in  the  bitter  conflict  of 
the  afternoon. 

"If  you  will  not  bring  me  into  your  life  again, 
Margaret,"  he  cried,  "I  swear  that  I  will  fight  my 
way  to  that  child's  side,  and  she  shall  know  how 
your  cold  pride  is  throttling  a  father's  honest  love. 
It  has  been  a  hard  life,  the  lonely  one  I  Ve  led. 

"And  to  that  child's  side,  I  will  yet  win  my  way. 

"Remember,  Alynton  and  his  friends  must  listen  to 
me.  I  can  crush  you. 

"The  walls  of  your  flimsy  social  fortification  will 
fall  around  you  at  my  touch.  Tell  me,  where  have 
you  hidden  ojir  child — your  child,  Margaret  Cranstoun ! 
My  child ! ' '  And  a  new  fear  had  entered  into  the 
mother's  soul,  all  bereft  of  a  husband's  love. 

The  Senator's  appeal  was  the  hoarse,  pleading  cry 
of  a  last  despair,  and  in  it  were  the  echoes  of  the  last 
agony  of  a  desperate  man.  There  before  him,  still 
defiant,  stood  the  wife  of  his  youth,  glowing  in  her 
autumn  beauty,  and  at  the  last,  madly  desired  by  the 
revenge  of  an  outraged  love. 


236  IN  THE  SWIM. 

All  the  triumphs  of  his  life  were  only  Dead  Sea  fruit, 
apples  of  Sodom.  For  he  knew  that  the  proud,  silent 
lips  before  him  might  tell  the  story  of  a  father's 
shame  to  that  unknown  girl  whose  lovely  face  now 
haunted  him.  The  girl  whose  picture  still  rested  on 
the  heart  of  the  yet  unbought  Vreeland.  For  the 
schemer  had  carefully  reclaimed  his  property. 

"The  past  is  sealed.  You  shall  never  hear  her  call 
you  father.  Mine  she  is  forever,  brought  forth  in  tears, 
nurtured  in  sorrow  and  mine  alone,"  defiantly  cried 
Elaine.  "I  have  bought  my  freedom,  with  all  these 
long  and  lonely  years,  and  it  is  Nature 's  revolt  against 
the  recreated  passion  of  your  youth. 

"Tell  me,"  she  sternly  said,  "had  you  found  me 
poor,  faded,  broken,  in  obscurity,  would  you  have 
then  begged  to  atone?"  She  faced  him  like  a  tigress. 

His  quivering  lips  refused  to  lie,  but  he  drew 
nearer  to  her  menacingly.  "Stand  off!"  she  panted. 
"Your  ownership  is  forfeit.  The  brute  tyranny  of 
marriage  as  made  by  man;  you  can  not  reforge  the 
chain  I  wore  once.  Every  fiber  of  my  flesh  revolts 
against  your  touch.  And  she — the  pure,  the  innocent, 
you  shall  never  see.  I  swear  it!"  He  had  thus  raged 
at  her  side  in  brutal  menaces. 

"I  go  now  to  Alynton.  They  shall  know  whom 
they  trust  with  secrets  that  would  shake  a  nation, ' '  the 
passion-blinded  man  growled,  forgetting  that  he  had 
dropped  to  the  mere  bully.  But  the  victorious  woman 
laughed  him  to  scorn. 

"I  hold  them,  you  and  your  masters,  in  the  hollow  of 
my  hand,"  the  defiant  woman  said.  "At  bay,  a  true 
woman  fears  nothing.  Your  ruin  and  public  shame 
await  you.  I  will  deal  with  them  alone. ' '  And  so  he 
had  failed. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  237 

When  James  Garston  was  gone,  his  mad  thoughts 
goading  him  on  to  the  final  purchase  of  Vreeland  as  the 
seal  of  his  revenge,  the  exhausted  woman  had  sought 
her  room.  "I  must  telegraph  for  Judge  Endicott, " 
she  muttered.  "This  paper  must  be  placed  where 
neither  murder  nor  millions  can  reach  it. ' '  She  slowly 
examined  the  dangerous  envelope,  and  then  her 
stricken  heart  stopped  beating  as  the  blank  paper 
fluttered  down  at  her  feet.  Gone — when — where — 
how?  A  thousand  times  she  had  felt  it  there  resting 
on  a  heart  now  thrilled  with  a  loving  hunger  for  the 
beautiful  girl  who  was  far  away  over  the  yeasty 
Atlantic  surges,  with  the  one  woman  whom  she  could 
trust  in  life  and  death,  Sara  Conyers. 

She  had  hardly  felt  the  clasp  of  her  daughter's  loving 
arms  before  fate  sundered  them.  Fate  and  fear  had 
parted  them. 

Her  mind  was  working  with  lightning  rapidity  as 
she  awaited  the  stubborn  French  maid's  answer.  In  an 
instant  she  revolved  the  whole  circle  of  her  friends  and 
foes.  Who  was  the  thief  ?  Justine's  calm  voice  re  called 
her  to  the  troubles  of  the  moment.  "I  have  never  seen 
it  since  I  sewed  it  in  for  you  at  the  Arlington  Hotel. 
Madame  does  not  doubt  me,  I  hope.  Have  any  of  the 
jewels  in  my  custody  been  stolen  or  your  money? 
When  did  Madame  discover  the  loss?" 

Under  the  clairvoyance  of  suspicion,  Elaine  realized 
the  unmistakable  air  of  the  declasse,  in  the  woman's 
crafty  face  and  the  physical  abandon  of  her  tell-tale 
bearing.  And  yet,  she  felt  that  Justine  was  technic 
ally  innocent. 

Secure  in  a  nearness  to  her  generous  employer,  Jus 
tine  Duprez  had  lately  given  herself  over  to  all  the 
easy  luxuries  of  a  vicious  life,  and  the  unerring  record 


238  IN  THE  SWIM. 

was  now  written  on  her  smug  face.  There  was  all  the 
insolence  of  the  woman 's  vile  nature  shining  in  her 
velvety  eyes — the  servant  ready  to  turn  and  rend  her 
mistress. 

"Here  is  a  possible  enemy,  a  spy,  the  willing  tool  of 
others,"  mused  Elaine  Willoughby,  as  she  rose  and 
coldly  said,  "The  matter  is  merely  an  annoyance, 
not  a  loss.  I  however  wish  to  be  always  able  to 
trust  those  around  me."  In  her  own  mind  she 
quickly  recalled  the  last  time  when  she  had  verified 
the  existence  of  the  document  which  bound  up 
a  financial  secret  of  national  importance.  It  was 
on  the  day  before  the  dinner  at  which  James  Gars- 
ton  had  come  back  into  her  life  as  a  living  legacy 
of  a  dead  past.  The  existence  of  the  paper  had 
been  verified  then,  in  view  of. possible  "business." 
"When  had  it  been  stolen?"  Her  long  illness  flashed 
upon  her.  There  were  a  hundred  chances  since  then. 

"Madame  may  remember  her  long  illness,"  sul 
lenly  said  the  uneasy  Frenchwoman,  at  last.  "There 
were  two  strange  women  in  charge  of  you,  night  and 
day.  I  was  not  responsible  for  them,  the  Doctor 
brought  them  here.  One  of  those  nurses  robbed  Dr. 
Alberg  himself  later,  and  then  ran  away.  Mon  Dieu! 

"The  story  was  in  all  the  papers.  And,  pardonnez 
moi,  Madame  was  out  of  her  mind.  The  story  of  that 
woman's  theft  was  a  talk  of  the  town.  Doctor  Alberg 
supplied  her  place  from  the  St.  Vincent's  Hospital 
service.  Did  he  not  tell  you?  But  I  am  sure  that  he 
never  knew  that  Madame,  too,  had  been  robbed.  And 
these  women  were  in  sole  charge  for  a  fortnight  of  all 
your  effects.  They  were  in  the  sick-room  night  and  day. 
As  for  me,  Madame,  my  character  is  my  sole  capital." 

She  laid  a  bunch  of  keys  upon  the  night  stand.     "If 


IN  THE  SWIM.  239 

Madame  will  please  have  some  one  verify  her  jewels, 
laces  and  wardrobe,  I  am  ready  to  depart.  I  shall  see 
the  French  Consul.  He  will  protect  me.  And  I  will 
remain  here,  if  Madame  pleases,  until  my  room  and 
boxes  are  searched.  To-morrow  I  go.  A  votre 
disposition!' ' 

The  sly  soubrette  feared  however  that  she  had  gone 
too  far,  as  her  mistress  sternly  gazed  at  her  with  eyes 
flashing  with  indignation.  "Take  up  your  keys, 
Justine,  and  go  back  at  once  to  your  room,"  she 
quietly  said.  ' '  Send  the  housekeeper  to  me. ' ' 

In  ten  minutes,  Justine  Duprez  listened  to  the  quick 
galloping  of  a  horse,  whirling  a  coupe"  away  at  a  break 
neck  speed.  There  was  help  sent  for.  Was  it  to 
be  the  police?  She  raged  in  her  heart,  for  there  was 
no  indication  of  her  angry  mistress'  intentions. 

"Not  a  word  can  I  send  off  to  warn  Vreeland.  It  is 
every  one  for  himself  now.  And  she  dare  not  arrest 
me,  for  all  her  quiet  suspicions.  The  other  women 
were  in  charge.  And  Vreeland  must  protect  me  now. " 
Justine  felt  reasonably  safe. 

The  woman  dreamed  uneasy  dreams,  however,  that 
night,  for  she  had  realized  in  the  past  days,  to  her 
astonishment,  that  she  had  been  skillfully  kept  chained 
to  her  mistress'  side.  She  knew  nothing  of  the  one 
darling  hope  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  heart,  to  hide 
Miss  Romaine  Garland  forever  from  the  gleam  of  the 
pitiless  eyes  of  the  passion-maddened  husband  of  her 
youth.  And  the  caution  of  the  secret  council  of 
friends  had  held  her  as  a  hostage  indoors. 

But  Dr.  Hugo  Alberg  was  absolutely  in  the  dark 
when  he  reached  Lakemere  by  the  earliest  morning 
train.  He  marveled  at  the  absence  of  Justine,  when 
he  awaited  the  summons  of  his  supposed  patient.  The 

16 


240  IN  THE  SWIM. 

woman,  secretly  frightened  more  every  moment  at  her 
long  isolation  from  her  only  protector,  was  on  duty, 
charged  with  carefully  examining  every  article  of  her 
mistress'  wardrobe,  and  searching  all  the  rooms  where 
the  invalid  had  been  despoiled  by  parties  unknown. 
She  became  bolder,  for  as  yet,  they  had  not  dared 
to  arrest  her. 

Through  the  opened  doors  of  the  anteroom,  Justine 
Duprez  could  see  the  flushed  face  of  the  greedy  Ger 
man  doctor  as  he  conversed  in  a  low  tone  with  the 
woman  whose  every  faculty  was  now  on  the  alert.  It 
was  an  hour  of  drawn  out  agony  to  her  before  the  doctor 
hastened  away,  and  from  her  window,  Justine  could 
see  him  being  rapidly  driven  back  to  the  station.  And 
still  her  mistress  was  sternly  silent. 

That  evening  the  household  at  Lakemere  was  rein 
forced  by  a  detective  in  plain  clothes,  who  publicly 
assembled  every  inmate  of  the  mansion  house  and 
questioned  them  all,  for  some  hours,  upon  every  move 
ment  of  the  two  nurses  who  had  been  in  charge  of 
their  mistress.  A  shadow  of  suspicion  brooded  over 
the  whole  manage  now.  Justine  Duprez  was  now 
conscious  of  a  burning  gnawing  at  her  heart. 

For,  all  day  the  pale-faced  cripple,  Mary  Kelly,  had 
been  working  with  flying  fingers  at  the  side  of  Mrs. 
Willoughby,  and  the  rattle  of  the  key  and  the  clang  of 
the  telephone  bell  was  unceasing.  The  French 
woman's  nerves  were  shaken  with  the  suspense. 

"Vreeland  is  powerless  here,"  mused  the  frightened 
Frenchwoman.  "He  forgot  in  his  haste  to  tap  the 
wires  from  Lakemere  to  the  old  Judge's  office, 
and  so,  all  harm  can  be  done  to  us  now.  We  are 
only  digging  in  the  dark.  We  have  no  defense  what- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  241 

ever.  We  are  cut  off  from  each  other.  This  house 
is  really  a  prison  for  me  now. ' ' 

The  easy  swing  of  Justine's  debonnair  insolence 
would  have  moderated  had  she  known  that  a  detective 
promptly  met  Doctor  Hugo  Alberg  at  the  Forty-second 
Street  Station;  that  Mary  Kelly's  schoolboy  brother 
had  orders  not  to  lose  sight  of  Vreeland  in  his  daily 
wanderings,  until  relieved  by  the  night  detective ;  that 
the  ' '  Circassia, ' '  too,  was  being  watched  night  and  day, 
and  that  even  Senator  James  Garston  was  now  provided 
with  an  invisible  escort.  For,  Elaine  Willoughby  was 
fighting  for  life  and  love  now,  to  the  death. 

While  Justine  was  held  an  unwilling  listener  to  the 
detective's  cross-examinations  at  Lakemere,  Judge 
Hiram  Endicott  was  closeted  below  in  a  grave  confer 
ence  with  Mrs.  Willoughby,  whereat  Roundsman  Dan 
Daly,  looking  sheepish  enough  in  mufti,  watched  the 
pale-faced  Mary  Kelly's  slender  fingers  recording  in 
shorthand  all  the  directions  of  the  silver-haired  lawyer. 

It  was  midnight  before  the  entire  domestic  force  at 
Lakemere  were  allowed  to  separate,  after  volunteering 
an  examination  of  all  their  rooms  and  luggage.  They 
knew  not  what  had  been  stolen,  but  a  vague  distrust  of 
each  other  was  now  written  on  all  their  sullen  faces. 

"This  forces  me  to  volunteer  to  do  the  same,  and 
so,  cuts  off  my  lawsuit  for  damages,"  snarled  Justine, 
as  she  descended  to  find  the  rooms  of  her  wearied 
mistress  in  darkness. 

The  hastily  summoned  counselors  had  departed  to 
New  York,  without  the  Frenchwoman  even  learning 
of  their  identity.  And  now,  in  her  loneliness,  Justine 
Duprez  became  the  prey  to  a  sudden  fear. 

In  the  silence  of  the  night  she  conjured  up  visions 

of  a  condign  punishment  reaching  only  herself.     Her 
16 


24*  IN  THE  SWIM. 

fellow-conspirator,  her  ignoble  lover!  If  he  could 
only  be  warned. 

It  was  one  o'clock  when  she  stole  out  into  the  silent 
gardens  dreaming  around  the  mansion.  It  was  a 
desperate  plan,  but  it  would  warn  her  lover  and 
accomplice.  If  she  could  only  reach  the  village ! 

But  it  was  two  miles  to  the  railroad  station.  Once 
there  however,  a  French  restaurateur,  who  was  her 
slave,  could  send  a  dispatch  to  the  old  hag  in  charge 
of  her  rooms  on  South  Fifth  Avenue.  She  could 
even  send  a  messenger  boy  down  to  warn  Vree- 
land.  And  the  letter  which  explained  the  dangers 
now  threatening  them  all  was  hidden  in  her  bosom, 
ready  for  the  mail,  and  inclosed  under  cover  to 
the  old  woman.  The  little  haunt  at  the  station 
was  open  all  night  for  the  trainsmen  and  freight 
handlers — a  sort  of  all-night  caravansera. 

And  she  knew  she  could  trust  Pierre  Gervais.  A  throb 
of  guilty  pride  stirred  her  bosom.  He  was  her  easily 
subjugated  slave,  and  her  countryman. 

Young,  alert  and  active,  the  two  miles  of  country 
road  was  nothing  to  the  hardy  Parisienne,  child  of  the 
trottoirs.  Her  hand  was  already  upon  the  latch  of  the 
nearest  gate,  as  a  dark  form  glided  to  her  side.  She 
was  trapped ! 

"Rather  late  for  a  walk,  Mademoiselle,"  quietly 
remarked  the  detective,  who  had  stolen  after  her 
noiselessly.  "You  must  be  ware  of  the  night  air.  It  is 
treacherous."  In  a  sullen  silence,  Justine  Duprez 
returned  to  the  house.  "Here  is  where  you  went  out; 
I  guess  that  you  know  the  way  back,"  the  detective 
meaningly  said,  as  he  resumed  his  steady  tramp  around 
the  house.  And  the  baffled  woman  slunk  upstairs  in  a 
silent  wrath. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  243 

Safe  in  her  room,  Justine  Duprez  hastened  to  burn 
the  letter  which  now  weighed  upon  her  breast  with  a 
crushing  weight.  ' '  My  God !  If  it  had  been  daylight 
and  they  had  searched  me !  Then,  the  prison  cell 
would  have  received  me.  "  With  chattering  teeth  she 
crept  to  a  corner,  and,  unlocking  her  trunk,  took  a 
deep  draught  from  the  brandy  bottle.  She  eyed  her 
self  in  the  glass.  Her  face  was  the  very  image  of  guilt. 
Its  mien  was  that  of  a  hunted  woman.  "There  will 
soon  be  trouble  for  others  now,"  she  defiantly  said. 
' '  The  only  story  that  will  save  me  from  prison  for  this 
attempt  is  the  lame  one  of  a  lover  in  the  village.  Va 
bane!  I  have  lost  my  place  anyway ;  my  character  can 
follow  it.  This  cool  woman  below  is  not  deceived. 
They  have  cut  all  our  wires.  I  am  to  be  dogged  to 
death  here,  day  by  day.  But  they  can  prove  absolutely 
nothing  as  to  the  cursed  paper.  And  my  character  is 
just  as  good  as  before." 

She  laughed  a  defiant  laugh  and  hummed  a  bar  of  a 
song  from  La  Perichole.  ' '  O  mon  cher  amant,  je  te  jure, 
que  je  t'aime  de  tout  mon  coeur.  He  has  to  shield  me — 
to  support  me  now, ' '  she  cheerfully  concluded,  as  the 
strong  cognac  cheered  her,  "for  he  is  in  my  power,  and 
Alberg,  too ;  and  that  sly  boots,  August  Helms  also. 
They  dare  not  abandon  poor  Justine.  At  the  last  I 
confess,  and  save  myself,  for  my  money  is  all  safe 
in  Paris.  Perhaps  the  Madame  would  pay  me  well; 
who  knows?" 

With  profound  astonishment,  Justine  Duprez  saw  the 
next  day  glide  by  without  reproach  of  any  kind.  Her 
mistress  had  resumed  her  normal  calm,  and  beyond  a 
formal  search  of  the  whole  house,  the  matter  of  the 
robbery  was  left  in  statu  quo. 

Even  when  Mrs.  Willoughby,  at  night,  directed  her 


244  IN  THE  SWIM. 

to  pack  all  her  immediate  belongings  for  an  instant 
return  to  New  York  City,  there  was  no  mention  of  that 
intercepted  nocturnal  visit  to  the  station  so  skillfully 
planned.  It  looked  as  if  the  storm  was  blowing,  over. 
The  household  had  regained  its  normal  calm. 

The  telegraph  and  telephone  wires  were  voiceless 
and  but  one  ominous  cloud  lingered  over  the  woman 
whose  personal  belongings  had  passed  a  most  trium 
phant  inspection.  She  was  not  able  to  evade  the  sight 
of  the  keen-eyed  cripple  or  of  her  mistress,  for  even 
ten  minutes. 

And  the  cat-like  nature  of  the  woman  rightly  warned 
her  of  a  coming  storm.  It  was  impossible  for  her 
the  next  day,  on  their  departure,  to  reach  her  faithful 
dupe,  Pierre  Gervais,  for  even  a  moment  at  the 
station. 

"Remember,  Justine,  to  watch  over  my  jewels,"  said 
her  mistress,  calmly.  "Miss  Kelly  and  yourself  must  n  ot 
separate  for  a  moment.  I  hold  you  both  responsible 
for  them. "  And  Justine  knew  the  faith  of  Mary  Kelly 
but  too  well. 

"I  wonder  if  I  am  to  be  arrested  on  our  arrival  in 
New  York,"  gloomily  mused  the  woman,  who  now  felt 
herself  entrapped.  But  her  spirits  rose  as  she  realized 
that  once  in  the  "Circassia"  there  would  prob 
ably  be  a  visit  from  Harold  Vreeland  himself,  at  once. 
"If  I  can  only  see  him,  warn  him,  then  we  are  safe, 
for  he  will  shield  me, ' '  she  exulted. 

And  Dr.  Alberg,  with  August  Helms,  too,  would  be 
under  her  control.  Then  it  would  be  an  easy  matter 
to  thoroughly  forewarn  the  man  to  whom  alone  she 
looked  now  for  safety. 

With  true  Gallic  prevision,  her  secretly  stolen  hoard 
of  the  seven  long  years  past,  as  well  as  Vreeland 's 


IN  THE  SWIM.  245 

bribes,  was  now  all  safely  deposited  in  her  own  name 
in  Paris,  and  she  could  gaily  laugh  at  the  wolf  at  the 
door.  For  there  were  also  the  two  nurses  between  her 
and  a  conviction. 

"Yes,"  she  exulted,'4!  can  snap  my  fingers  at  them, 
and  say  ' Bon  jour,  M'sieur  Loup!  Comment  $a  va.'  ' 

The  only  thing  now  was  to  comfortably  reach  Paris. 
For  she  knew  that  even  across  the  sea  she  could  draw 
upon  Harold  Vreeland's  golden  hoard.  ' '  He  may  even 
come  over  there,  to  me,  at  Paris,  and  I  can  finish  pluck 
ing  him  there. "  With  a  demure  sleekness,  she  plumed 
herself  and  closely  watched  the  inscrutable  face  of  her 
beautiful  mistress.  Justine  well  knew  the  awkward 
ness  of  a  mistress  daring  to  arrest  her  confidential  maid. 
There  was,  however,  a  perfect  serenity  lingering  upon 
the  noble  lines  of  the  human  mask  which  now  baffled 
even  the  velvety-eyed  Justine,  even  though  her  wits 
were  sharpened  by  her  fears. 

In  the  period  since  the  discovery  of  the  abstraction 
of  the  vastly  important  document,  Elaine  Willoughby 
had  been  fortified  with  Judge  Endicott's  calm  counsels. 
She  knew,  too,  that  she  was  surrounded  with  friends, 
lynx-eyed  and  active,  and  that  her  emissaries  were  in 
the  enemy's  camp. 

It  had  only  taken  Endicott  ten  minutes  to  give  her  a 
list  of  her  probable  friends  and  foes.  "The  whole 
thing  proves  that  you  were  known  to  be  lulled  into 
the  idea  that  your  precious  deposit  was  still  there.  No 
one  would  dare  to  threaten  or  blackmail  you  and  produce 
that  paper ;  it  is  too  risky.  It  would  land  all  the  gang 
into  Sing  Sing  at  once. ' '  He  recounted  all  those 
whom  its  possession  could  possibly  benefit.  "There 
is  Garston,  a  rugged  egoist,  and  a  cool-headed,  middle- 
aged  possible  wooer.  A  man  who  would  confidently 


246  IN  THE  SWIM. 

pit  his  money  and  place  against  Alynton,  even  though 
younger  and  a  thousand  times  his  superior  in  any 
woman's  eyes." 

Elaine  Willoughby  listened  in  a  hushed  relief,  for, 
as  fond  woman  often  does,  she  had  only  told  her  aged 
Mentor  half  the  truth.  She  had  merely  hinted  at  Gars- 
ton's  growing  infatuation.  "  There  is  Vreeland,  whom 
I  thoroughly  detest,  and  think  him  at  heart  capable  of 
any  sneaking  villainy.  Moreover,  Noel  also  thinks  so. 
Your  generous  fancies  have  cost  you  dearly  in  the  past, 
in  your  easily  volunteered  faith.  Separately  or 
together  this  dangerous  document  would  benefit 
Garston  and  Vreeland. 

"Now,  mark  me.  Garston  would  use  it,  of  course, 
only  to  bring  you  to  his  arms.  You  would  hear  of  it 
from  him  only,  for  that  purpose  only. ' ' 

"And  Vreeland?"  tremblingly  demanded  his  client. 

"Would  blackmail  you  for  a  fortune  if  you  ever  fell 
in  his  power.  I  hate  his  sleek  ways,  his  insincere  eyes, 
his  cat-like  moves. 

' '  Minor  enemies  are  Alberg  and  your  French  maid. 
This  German  doctor  shall  not  have  sole  charge  of  your 
health  again.  His  explanation  about  the  nurse  is  a 
very  lame  one.  Of  course,  you  can  not  pin  him  down, 
for  he  refuges  himself  behind  an  ignorance  of  your 
loss,  and  points  to  her  flight  and  the  hubbub  in  the 
papers  and  the  police  records. 

"Of  course,  you  were  too  ill  to  be  bothered,  and  so 
you  may  have  been  despoiled  by  either  the  maid  or 
one  or  both  of  the  nurses. 

"Justine  alone  knew  where  the  document  was;  she 
has  been  only  the  agent  of  some  one  of  the  three ;  per 
haps  of  all.  A  rich  widow' s  doctor  too  may  be  her  near 
est  foe.  Why  in  God's  name  did  you  not  have  a  repu- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  247 

table  family  physician?  In  your  easy  seclusion  you 
thought  yourself  safe. 

"Now  go  away,  and  leave  them  all  to  me.  All 
depends  upon  your  absolute  unconcern,  and  leaving 
them  to  me.  The  rats  will  come  together  as  soon  as 
you  are  out  of  the  way. ' ' 

When  Hiram  Endicott  said  adieu,  it  was  with  a  last 
injunction  to  Elaine  not  to  use  either  the  telegraph  or 
telephone  in  her  absence.  "The  fact  is,  my  dear  child, 
if  you  had  married  some  good  man  instead  of  dally 
ing  along  with  these  discoveries,  you  would  now  be 
proof  against  all  such  attacks." 

The  grumbling  old  Judge  thought  of  a  golden- 
hearted,  manly  lover  whose  secret  he  had  unwittingly 
surprised,  and  sighed  when  he  was  on  his  homeward 
way.  "Given  to  a  woman  for  her  choice,  a  sly  knave, 
a  handsome  fool,  and  a  man  really  worthy  of  her,  she 
will  try  either  of  the  first  two  before  ever  thinking  of 
the  noble  heart  under  her  feet.  The  experience  of 
every  other  woman  seems  to  be  merely  thrown  away. 
It  is  the  song  of  the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin  over 
again. ' ' 

The  old  lawyer  swore  a  deep  oath  in  his  rage.  "If 
I  can  not  protect  her  against  the  weaknesses  of  her 
own  heart,  I  will  at  least  punish  some  of  these  banded 
rascals.  For  they  will  soon  fall  into  my  trap. ' ' 

To  the  astonishment  of  the  mystified  Justine  Duprez, 
there  was  a  new  butler  on  duty  in  the  "Circassia, "  a 
man  whose  cold  and  piercing  eyes  made  her  tremble. 
And  also  a  deft -handed,  middle-aged  American  woman, 
whose  husband,  an  extra  servant,  was  evidently  cast 
for  "responsible  duties."  And  she  could  not  divine 
the  meaning  of  all  this,  but  she  was  tied  down  to  her 
lonely  rack. 


248  IN  THE  SWIM. 

The  long  day  dragged  away — a  day  of  imprisonment 
and  one  of  isolation.  There  was  no  visit  of  the  ardent- 
eyed  Vreeland,  that  envy  of  all  rising  men!  And 
Doctor  Hugo  Alberg,  too,  was  conspicuously  absent. 

The  Parisienne  felt  the  toils  closing  around  her,  as 
her  mistress  called  her  to  her  side  before  dinner.  But 
the  "Madame"  was  perfectly  unmoved. 

"I  am  leaving  here  for  some  weeks,  Justine,"  she 
carelessly  said.  "All  your  duties  in  my  absence  will 
be  to  continue  to  search  this  entire  apartment  with 
Miss  Kelly  for  the  paper,  which  I  may  have  mislaid. 
Miss  Kelly,  who  will  remain  here,  will  have  entire 
charge  in  my  name,  and  I  expect  you  to  remain  here 
with  her.  You  will  thus  have  ample  time  to  make  a 
most  careful  search,  and  very  likely  you  will  find  the 
paper,  only  a  mere  formal  legal  document. " 

The  Frenchwoman  gasped:  "Of  course,  I  am  free 
to  go  out  as  I  wish?" 

' '  Certainly,  Justine, ' '  was  her  mistress'  reply.  ' '  But 
always  with  Miss  Kelly,  as  she  may  need  you  to  help 
her  at  any  moment.  I  leave  her  as  my  representa 
tive." 

The  ashen  pallor  of  fear  tinged  Justine  Duprez's 
cheeks,  as  she  bowed  in  silence.  "They  know  all, 
and  I — I — must  hold  Vreeland  now,  between  myself 
and  the  prison  door."  Her  mistress'  easy  politeness 
gave  no  ground  for  mutiny  or  quarrel. 

The  frightened  maid  knew  not  whither  her  mistress 
had  departed  when  the  "Circassia"  was  deserted 
that  evening  by  both  the  new  body  servants  and  the 
Lady  of  Lakemere.  Their  use  as  a  bodyguard  was  all 
too  evident. 

But  the  resolute,  pale-faced  stenographer  was 
on  duty  there  and  ready  to  enter  upon  her  new 


IN  THE  SWIM.  249 

kingdom.  There  was  but  one  forlorn  hope  left  to 
Justine — a  hurried  visit  to  August  Helms,  and  to  send 
the  janitor  down  to  the  Elmleaf  with  a  message  to 
Harold  Vreeland.  She  had  not  left  the  building,  and 
her  little  absence  was  unnoted. 

"Tell  him  that  I  must  see  him  at  once  on  a  matter 
of  life  and  death,  and  that  he  must  come  to  your 
rooms  and  wait  there  to  meet  me.  It  is  the  only 
way,  and  he  must  come  without  a  moment's  delay,  for 
all  our  sakes!  Go!" 

The  stolid  German  janitor  smiled  over  the  ten-dollar 
bill,  which  he  pocketed,  and  after  an  hour's  waiting  at 
the  Elmleaf,  learned  from  the  parchment-faced  Bagley 
that  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  was  dining  at  the  Savoy 
with  Senator  Garston  and  Miss  Norreys.  A  grand, 
private  "swell  function,"  and  so,  likely  to  be  a  late  one. 

"I'll  give  him  your  message, "  obligingly  said  Mr. 
Vreeland's  man.  "I  'ave  always  to  wait  up  for  him, 
you  know.  He  has  to  be  undressed  by  me.  So,  I  am 
sure  to  see  him." 

Helms  was  anxious  to  get  away  and  sample  the  good 
"Miinchner  Leist-brau"  in  his  brother-in-law's  saloon 
near  by,  and  so  he  yielded  up  his  story  with  a  sly  wink. 
"Fine  girl,  that  Justine.  They  are  all  the  same — these 
pretty  French  maids." 

When  he  lumbered  away,  he  did  not  realize  that 
Judge  Hiram  Endicott  had  received  the  message 
before  the  triumphant  Harold  Vreeland  had  returned, 
flushed  with  both  love  and  wine.  The  blundering 
janitor  had  played  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  Bagley 
had  easily  earned  a  heavy  reward. 

Before  Vreeland  sat  in  hiding  the  next  morning, 
awaiting  Justine  in  Helms'  rooms  at  the  "Circassia," 
Hugh  Conyers  handed  a  cipher  dispatch  to  Mrs.  Elaine 


250  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Willoughby  at  Washington,  on  her  way  to  Asheville, 
in  the  far  North  Carolinan  hills.  "There  is  the 
missing  link,  Madame,"  said  Conyers.  "Vreeland  and 
your  maid  have  jointly  robbed  you.  This  vulgar 
janitor  is  only  their  tool  and  paid  go-between.  Doctor 
Alberg  and  Vreeland  were  shut  up  together  for  some 
hours  yesterday,  and  you  will  find  that  the  janitor  has 
probably  robbed  your  private  letters  in  their  interest. 
I'll  wire  now  to  Officer  Dan  Daly,  and  have  him 
watched  day  and  night.  He  is  only  a  beer-sodden 
fool.  But  we  will  just  let  them  go  on,  and  drop  one 
by  one,  into  the  trap.  You  will  later  find  Garston 
lurking  behind  it  all.  I  think  I  begin  to  see  his  little 
game.  Somehow,  I  distrust  that  man,"  and  he  mur 
mured,  semi-unconsciously,  as  he  gazed  at  the  agitated 
woman  beside  him : 

' '  Your  lonely  life  has  made  you  an  easy  prey  hereto 
fore  to  both  schemer  and  fortune-hunter.  You  will 
have  now  Romaine  to  guard,  and  you  need  help.  You 
can  not  go  on  and  brave  society's  natural  curiosity. 

"And,  no  half  explanations  will  do.  When  we  have 
recovered  your  missing  document,  you  must  abandon 
forever  all  your  operations  in  the  Street,  and  go  away 
to  some  safe  European  land,  either  Sweden,  Switzer 
land  or  Germany,  and,  moreover,  under  a  good  guard. 

"If  you  stay  here,  you  need  a  resolute  man  at  your 
side,  one  who  knows  all  your  enemies,  and  one  who 
can  protect  you.  It  is  the  revenge  of  Nature's  laws. 
You  can  not  be  father  and  mother  both  to  your  beauti 
ful  Cinderella — God  bless  her!" 

"And  do  you  think  that  my  friends  are  in  any 
danger  over  the  loss  of  the  stolen  document?"  trem 
blingly  said  Elaine,  fixing  her  eyes  fondly  upon  his 
earnest  face. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  251 

"No,"  said  the  journalist.  "There  has  been  time 
already  to  have  struck  at  them.  The  paper  is  only 
held  to  coerce  you — either  to  gain  over  your  hand  in 
marriage,  or  else,  money  will  be  the  price  of  your 
safety. 

"If  it's  Vreeland,  it  will  be  merely  money.  If  it's 
Garston,  and  far  the  more  dangerous  of  the  two — a 
man  not  foolish  enough  for  criminal  blackmailing 
threats — then  he  wants  to  control  both  you  and 
Romaine. 

"Of  course,  he  has  no  claim  whatever  on  Romaine. 
He  would  only  use  her  as  the  pivot  to  turn  your  heart 
toward  him. " 

Elaine  Willoughby's  eyes  were  filled  with  sudden 
tears.  "If  I  only  dared  to  tell  you  all!"  she  mur 
mured. 

But  as  their  hands  met,  Hugh  Conyers  brokenly 
said:  "I  am  yours  to  the  death;  I  can  wait  for  your 
words,  Elaine.  Romaine  is  safe  under  a  watchful 
guardian.  Roper  was  an  old  Wells-Fargo  shotgun 
messenger;  a  trusted  Pinkerton  man  later,  and  as 
Romaine  is  Sara's  roommate,  and  as  Roper  never 
leaves  them  by  day,  you  and  I  can  wait  here  without 
fear  till  the  demand  is  made  on  you. 

"And  then,  you  may  find  the  two  men  whom  I 
fear  turn  up  together.  But  the  very  moment  they 
take  any  steps  that  indicate  the  possession  of  the 
document,  the  tables  are  turned. 

"They  are  then  in  our  power.  And  Bagley  may 
further  trap  Vreeland." 

"He  may  have  sold  his  secret  to  Senator  Garston," 
faltered  Elaine  Willoughby.  "The  only  man  on  earth 
whom  I  fear." 

"Fear  nothing,  however,  while  I  am  at  your  side, 


252  IN  THE  SWIM. 

and  Endicott  is  our  Bhicher  in  reserve.  Our  fears  are 
always  more  real  than  our  hopes,"  said  Conyers,  as 
he  relapsed  into  a  brown  study.  He  feared  a  self- 
betrayal. 

The  winsome  woman  at  his  side  was  gazing  at  him 
with  a  new  and  tender  light  in  her  eyes.  "How  noble 
he  is!  How  true!"  she  sighed;  for  Hugh  Conyers' 
friendship  was  a  rock  in  the  desert  of  her  life. 

It  was  after  four  that  afternoon  when  Harold  Vree- 
land,  plainly  dressed,  sauntered  into  the  rear  entrance 
of  the  "Circassia,"  and  sought  the  rooms  of  August 
Helms,  the  janitor.  He  was  only  waiting  for  the 
final  sale  of  a  soul  and  to  hear  the  full  story  of  Justine. 
The  cold  relegation  to  his  routine  duties  at  the  office, 
and  Mrs.  Willoughby's  message,  had  now  cut  off  all 
hopes  of  a  nearer  social  approach. 

"I  must  be  very  careful,"  he  mused.  "These 
fellows  down  here  are  all  on  the  watch ;  and  if  Elaine 
abandons  me,  I  am  half  stranded  with  my  winter's 
extravagance  and,  my  poor  fifteen  thousand  dollars 
will  not  go  very  far.  But,  Garston  counsels  me  to 
keep  cool,  to  play  my  old  game,  and  to  post  him. 
He  must  now  give  me  his  open  aid,  and  Elaine  may 
not  then  dare  to  thrust  me  out. 

"And  if  I  married  Katharine  Norreys,  that  would  be 
the  fairest  reason  for  a  transference  into  Senator 
Garston' s  camp. 

' '  He  must  give  me  his  entire  business  in  stocks. ' ' 

He  had  quietly  dropped  into  his  old  business  routine, 
and  the  waxen  mask  of  his  face  was  unruffled  even 
before  Wyman  and  Noel  Endicott,  his  foes  in  ambush. 
He  had  in  some  dim  way  realized  that  Elaine  Willoughby 
had  only  used  him  as  a  lever  to  crush  the  dead  favorite, 
Hathorn.  And  he  began  now  to  fear  her  variable  nature. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  253 

"I  do  not  dare  to  accuse  her,"  he  growled,  "for 
Alida's  visits  were  a  treason  to  my  trust.  Does  she 
know  of  them?"  He  breathed  freer  at  the  rumors  of 
the  approaching  marriage  of  the  golden-hearted  Potter 
with  the  woman  who  was  his  natural  mate.  "That 
will  keep  her  mouth  shut  forever,  for  her  own  sake ! ' ' 
meanly  exulted  Vreeland. 

When  Justine  glided  into  the  dark  back  room  of  the 
janitor,  her  excited  lover  cut  short  all  tenderness. 

"Tell  me,  for  God's  sake,  all  you  know!  We  can 
make  an  appointment  for  South  Fifth  Avenue  after 
wards.  ' ' 

He  had  brought  a  roll  of  crisp  bills  to  stimulate 
Justine's  memory,  and  when  he  slipped  away  half  an 
hour  later,  his  heart  was  throbbing  wildly.  He  was 
armed  at  all  points  now. 

In  his  mean  egoism,  he  saw  the  storm  lowering  only 
over  Justine's  head.  "Bah!  they  will  merely  chase  her 
over  to  Paris ;  a  few  thousand  will  close  her  mouth 
there. 

"And  I  can  surely  afford  it,  when  I  marry  Kath 
arine  Norreys,  a  millionairess  in  posse!" 

He  went  directly  to  the  Savoy  Hotel,  after  sending 
up  a  beautiful  corbeille  of  flowers.  His  mind  was  made 
up  at  last.  "Justine  is  all  right.  She  dare  not  talk. 
And  they  will  seal  her  lips  and  send  her  out  of 
America."  He  laughed  lightly.  "My  capricious 
employer!  You  are  only  playing  my  game  for  me. 
For  I  should  not  care  to  have  Justine  Duprez  as  a 
bridesmaid.  It  will  be  well  to  have  her  out  of  the  way. 
Garston  might  use  his  sly  arts  on  her. ' ' 

Lulled  by  his  mean  selfishness  he  forgot  all  his  own 
risks,  in  believing  the  now  half-desperate  maid  to  be 
the  single  object  of  suspicion. 


254  IN  THE  SWIM. 

He  little  knew  that  the  police  were  quietly  watching 
every  movement  of  himself,  Doctor  Alberg  and  the 
now  fretful  Justine.  The  cool  body  servant,  Bagley, 
was  a  spy  by  night  and  day;  and  even  janitor  August 
Helms  and  the  two  letter-carriers  at  the  "Circassia" 
were  under  the  surveillance  of  roundsman  Dan  Daly's 
friends  in  plain  clothes. 

A  minute  mark  on  every  letter  and  a  special  time 
list  enabled  Miss  Mary  Kelly,  self-possessed  and 
untiring,  to  compare  daily  her  list  with  the  chief  clerk 
of  Station  Z. 

An  average  detention  of  two  hours  on  every  letter, 
and  the  use  of  prepared  decoys,  told  of  the  unfaithful 
ness  of  the  janitor  and  the  collusion  of  the  unfortunate 
Mulholland,  who  had  succumbed  to  the  demands  of  a 
thirst  beyond  his  salary.  For  the  other  letter-carrier 
had  vindicated  himself,  and  aided  to  trap  his  fellow. 

Harold  Vreeland  was  now  ready  for  his  final  bargain 
with  the  stony-faced  Senator  James  Garston.  He  had 
withdrawn  himself  from  general  society,  and,  as 
envious  swains  said,  was  "making  the  running"  now 
on  Miss  Katharine  VanDyke  Norreys. 

The  tall,  blonde  beauty's  exquisite  grace,  her  superb 
dress,  her  Western  free-lance  wit,  and  all  the  brilliant 
glow  of  her  youthful  freshness,  accentuated  the  charms 
of  golden  hair  and  the  almost  pleading  violet  eyes  & 
V Imperatrice  Eugenue. 

Once  or  twice  Vreeland  fancied  that  he  had  discerned 
a  tenderness  beyond  their  relations  in  her  manner  to 
Senator  Garston,  but  his  whole  faculties  were  now 
devoted  to  the  arrangement  of  his  dual  future  relations. 

"I  can  easily  get  my  price  from  Mrs.  Willoughby — 
the  price  of  her  peace — and  I  might  find  a  way  to  dis 
cover  and  return  the  dangerous  paper. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  255 

"A  voyage  to  London,  hunting  down  Martha  Wil- 
mot,  and  then,  a  return  of  the  paper  to  her  as  a  con 
quering  hero. ' '  In  fact,  the  custody  of  the  paper  now 
became  a  source  of  daily  worry  to  him.  He  dared  not 
give  it  to  any  other.  He  feared  to  deposit  it  in  any 
bank  of  the  city  or  in  a  safety  vault. 

"I  am  king  over  Justine  while  I  have  it,"  he  mused, 
"and  to  convey  it  about  me  is  a  fearful  risk.  If  I 
leave  it  in  hiding,  a  house  may  burn,  and  there  is 
always  the  unexpected  to  fear.  If  I  should  fall  ill — " 
He  began  to  grow  morbidly  cowardly. 

He  was  lulled  by  Elaine  Willoughby's  silence  as  to 
her  loss.  "Of  course,"  he  reflected,  "Doctor  Alberg, 
the  two  nurses  and  Justine  were  the  only  ones  who 
had  access  to  her  during  the  illness  following  Garston's 
sudden  appearance.  I  am  a 'rank  outsider'  in  all  that." 

It  was  clear  to  him  that  the  Lady  of  Lakemere  had 
accepted  Doctor  Alberg' s  ingeniously  contrived 
explanation  as  to  Martha  Wilmot's  robbery.  But  the 
paper — the  paper!  What  to  do  with  it  now? 

In  fact,  Judge  Hiram  Endicott,  after  a  long  exami 
nation  of  the  newspapers  and  police  records,  had 
finally  dismissed  the  frightened  German  physician 
with  the  remark:  "I  suppose  that  this  sly  adven 
turess  of  a  nurse  thought  her  patient  had  concealed 
some  bank  bills  or  stocks  in  that  womanly  hiding 
place,  the  corset,  and  has  undoubtedly  destroyed  the 
private  papers,  which  were  of  no  value  to  any  one  but 
the  owner. ' '  The  able  old  lawyer  calmed  the  frightened 
doctor's  all  too  evident  fear  of  losing  his  "star"  patient. 

Those  same  private  papers,  the  original  and  the 
copy,  had  been  already  shifted  by  Harold  Vreeland, 
from  time  to  time,  through  a  dozen  different  hiding 
places. 

17 


256  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"Damn  them!"  he  growled.  "If  I  burn  them,  I  am 
safe,  but  then  I  lose  my  hold  on  Elaine.  If  I  sell 
them  to  Senator  Garston,  I  am  in  his  hands  as  a  criminal, 
and  forever  in  his  power.  I'll  make  my  bargain  with 
him,  and  then,  cover  over  my  breach  with  Mrs.  Wil- 
loughby  by  a  well-devised  return.  If  she  would  only 
give  me  a  sign  of  her  real  purposes!"  He  was  in  a 
quandary,  and  had  no  counsel. 

He  never  knew  that  Hugh  Conyers  wrote  the  long 
and  even  unusually  friendly  letter  from  Asheville,  in 
which  his  patroness  announced  her  intention  of  a  long 
voyage  "for  a  complete  rest  and  change  of  air." 

A  tour,  perhaps,  around  the  world  via  Japan,  but  he 
did  know  that  he  was  to  assist  Noel  Endicott  and 
his  cool  partner,  Wyman,  in  the  routine  business. 

"Stocks  appear  to  be  standing  on  a  dead  level,"  she 
wrote,  "and  so,  I  will  lose  nothing  in  my  absence." 

The  clear  intimation  that  he  would  receive  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  his  services,  and  that  the 
"Elmleaf"  apartment  would  be  kept  up  as  an  extra 
account,  satisfied  him. 

"It  will  be  unnecessary  for  you  to  write  to  me  for 
orders.  I  may  go  on  from  here, "  the  letter  concluded ; 
"and  you  will  receive  all  my  final  wishes  later,  through 
Judge  Endicott,  by  the  hands  of  Noel.  Miss  Kelly,  in 
charge  at  the  'Circassia,'  will  liquidate  all  the 'Elm- 
leaf  bills  as  usual,  through  Bagley.  I  shall  close  up 
both  my  rooms  at  the  'Circassia'  and  Lakemere. 
Please  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  this  to  my  Asheville 
address." 

"By  Jove!  She  is  a  cool  hand!"  cried  Vreeland. 
"The  Colorado  Springs  humbug  and  the  southern 
trip  was  only  devised  to  outwit  Garston.  She  will 


IN  THE  SWIM.  257 

go  around  the  world  and  meet  her  child  in  a  safe 
hiding-place.  Now  I  am  ready  to  sell  out  to  Garston 
for  a  substantial  consideration.  I  am  safe,  and,  I  can 
easily  hoodwink  her." 


258  IN  THE  SWIM. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
A  WEDDING  IN  HIGH  LIFE. 

It  was  a  week  later  when  two  alert-minded  men 
faced  each  other  over  a  table  in  Senator  James 
Garston's  private  rooms  at  the  Plaza  Hotel.  No  single 
thread  of  the  tangle  had  been  successfully  followed  up 
by  the  restless  Vreeland,  save  that  Mr.  Hugh  Conyers, 
gravely  occupied  in  his  usual  duties,  had  returned  to 
the  office  of  the  Daily  Clarion. 

And  of  the  whereabouts  of  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby, 
Vreeland  knew  absolutely  nothing,  save  that  in  a  stolen 
interview  with  Justine  Duprez  he  learned  that  Miss 
Mary  Kelly,  now  aided  by  her  brother  and  mother  as 
inmates,  was  the  caretaker  of  the  superb  "Circassia" 
apartment.  And  so,  Justine  had  a  new  mistress,  pro 
tern. 

The  private  secretary  had  handed  to  the  French  maid 
a  note  from  her  absent  mistress,  bidding  her  remain  on 
duty  at  the  "Circassia"  until  her  own  return.  "Miss 
Kelly  represents  me ;  she  will  pay  you  and  give  you 
her  orders,  carrying  out  my  directions  to  her."  And 
Justine  dared  not  break  away. 

There  was  joy  now  in  Justine's  anxious  heart,  for 
the  stolen  interviews  at  her  old  rooms  in  South  Fifth 
Avenue,  perhaps,  could  be  soon  renewed,  Miss  Kelly 
generously  allowing  the  maid  all  her  usual  outings. 

And  Vreeland  had  soon  calmed  the  Parisienne's 
growing  fears. 

' '  She  must  however  know  no  more  of  my  affairs  now, " 


IN  THE  SWIM.  259 

mused  the  young  broker.  ' '  She  will  be  useless  to  me 
in  the  future  game,  as  Fate  has  dealt  the  cards." 

But  he  knew  he  might  have  some  further  use  for 
her,  to  watch  the  promoted  amanuensis  and  to  learn 
of  Mrs.  Willoughby'  movements. 

"Yes,  she  must  continue  to  intercept  the  letters. 
Thank  Heaven,  I  can  always  depend  upon  the  janitor 
and  Mulholland!"  was  Vreeland's  flattering  consolation 
to  his  soul. 

"It  is  the  only  way  to  trace  Mrs.  Willoughby 's  real 
movements  and  so  be  able  to  post  Senator  Garston. " 

He  would  have  been  disturbed  had  he  marked 
roundsman  Dan  Daly,  a  cool  but  shadowy  pursuer  of 
Justine  Duprez  on  her  every  outing,  and  known  also 
that  the  untiring  schoolboy  brother  was  on  his  own 
trail  all  the  while. 

The  moving  into  the  South  Fifth  Avenue  lodging- 
house  of  a  very  agreeable  old  French  crony  gave  a 
neighbor  to  Justine's  resident  old  hag,  who  speedily 
became  a  familiar  visitor.  And  then  through  the  walls 
of  that  adjoining  room,  a  carefully  contrived  peep-hole 
enabled  roundsman  Daly's  all-seeing  eye  to  witness 
the  now  infrequent  interviews  of  Vreeland  and  Justine. 

"I  shall  not  be  happy  until  I  place  the  jewelry  on 
that  scoundrel's  wrists,"  was  Daly's  pledge  to  his  own 
heart,  for  he  had  not  forgotten  Vreeland — bully  and 
coward!  There  was  a  growing  score  to  settle — a  long 
one! 

And  so  Vreeland  and  Justine  had  freely  met  in  the 
fancied  security  of  their  Fools'  Paradise. 

But  blissfully  ignorant,  over  the  wine,  Vreeland  in 
the  crowning  interview,  eyed  the  Western  rising 
statesman.  He  was  all  on  the  alert  as  he  said:  "Sen 
ator  Garston,  I  am  now  ready  to  close  with  you. 


260  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"But  first,  you  must  plainly  tell  me  all.  Why  do 
you  wish  to  find  this  girl?" 

Garston  carelessly  knocked  the  ash  off  his  cigar,  as 
he  coolly  said:  "There  is  a  large  amount  of  Western 
property,  a  very  large  one,  in  which  that  child  has  an 
interest,  an  interest  moreover  of  which  she  knows 
nothing.  That  is  my  real  business  with  the  girl,  whose 
life  story  I  alone  know — save  the  mother  who  has 
adroitly  hidden  her  so  long.  You  see  her  presence 
would  have  embarrassed  the  social  queen!" 

"Who  was  her  father?"  flatly  demanded  Vreeland. 

The  Senator's  eyes  hardened.  "That  is  nobody's 
business  but  mine. "  It  does  not  enter  into  our  affair. 
And  the  property  interests  demand  my  present  silence. " 

Vreeland  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  smiling, 
calmly  said:  "You  wish  me,  then,  to  play  my  part 
openly  for  you,  while  I  am  kept  in  the  dark?" 

And  Garston  steadily  replied:  "What  matters  it  to 
you,  if  you  are  well  paid?"  His  voice  was  steady,  but 
there  was  a  wolfish  anxiety  in  his  eyes.  "My  pro 
fessional  secrets  could  not  aid  you. " 

"My  price  will  be  a  high  one,  and  cash  down  or 
secured.  Either  cash  or  stocks.  Sugar  stocks  will 
do,"  meaningly  replied  Vreeland. 

"Damn  it,  don't  haggle!"  cried  Garston.  "Tell  me 
simply  what  you  want. " 

Vreeland  calmly  pushed  over  a  piece  of  paper  on 
which  he  had  written  six  figures.  "I  want  that,  and 
then,  I  will  marry  Katharine  Norreys  on  your  pledge 
of  honor  that  you  give  to  her  an  equal  amount  as 
dowry.  You  are  then  to  direct  the  whole  future 
game.  Of  course,  there  must  be  the  usual  preliminary 
society  flurry  over  the  engagement.  I  am  now  ready 


IN  THE  SWIM.  2$i 

to  go  over  to  you,  body  and  soul.  What  do  you  say? 
I  serve  you  to  the  death,  then. " 

"And  I  am  to  own  you,  out  and  out.  You  are  to  keep 
near  her  and  to  work  my  will, "  demanded  Garston.  His 
voice  was  strangely  eager,  for  his  struggling  heart 
would  have  its  voice. 

"To the  death,"  answered  Vreeland,  "if  you  pay  me 
first,  and  then  stand  by  Katharine  and  myself.  It 
will  be  a  union  of  heart,  hands  and  interest. " 

"I'll  do  it  on  one  sole  condition,"  replied  Garston. 

"And  that  is?"  eagerly  said  Vreeland. 

"That  you  clearly  understand  that  your  life  would 
be  the  forfeit  of  any  treachery.  I  must  reach  that  girl. 
I  am  playing  a  game  to  the  bitter  end.  And  you  do 
not  know  what  a  foe  that  sleek  woman  can  be." 

"All  right,"  said  the  young  man,  extending  his 
hand.  "The  future  will  show  you  what  I  am.  We 
must  take  the  risks  together." 

"I  will  give  you  half  in  cash,  the  balance  in  stocks, 
and  I'll  hand  the  check  for  the  cash  over  now,"  said 
Garston,  as  he  laid  his  revolver  on  the  table. 

"Now,  sir,  let  me  see  that  girl's  picture.  Tell  me 
where  she  is,  and  I'll  sign  the  check." 

His  eyes  were  wolfish  as  Vreeland  silently  handed 
him  the  photograph  of  the  girl  who  had  never  known 
a  father's  love.  The  young  man  began  his  cool  recital : 

"The  girl  sailed  from  Philadelphia  for  Europe  three 
weeks  ago  on  the  steamer  'Excelsior,'  under  the 
assumed  name  of  Alice  Montgomery,  with  Sara  Con- 
yers,  the  artist  sister  of  the  Clarion's  sub-editor,  Hugh 
Conyers.  She  was  hidden  away  here  in  New  York 
under  the  name  of  Romaine  Garland,  and  old 
Endicott,  Conyers  and  the  sister  have  smuggled  the 
girl  quietly  away  from  Lakemere.  The  two  women 


262  IN  THE  SWIM. 

are  now  at  the  'Hotel  Royal  Victoria'  at  Lucerne,  and 
Hugh  Conyers  and  Endicott  are  watching  every  move 
that  you  make. " 

A  ferocious  gleam  lit  up  the  Senator's  eyes.  He 
signed  the  check  and  passed  it  over  to  Vreeland.  "I 
can  handle  both  of  them  easily,"  he  growled. 

"Tell  me  the  whole  story  now,"  he  said,  leaning 
back  with  an  air  of  exquisite  delight.  "My  money 
will  do  the  rest.  I'll  get  to  her  easy  enough." 

"You'll  have  to  work  quickly  then,"  answered  Vree 
land,  "for  Elaine  Willoughby  has  stolen  away  on  an 
ostensible  trip  around  the  world  via  Japan,  but  really 
to  meet  the  girl  and  her  train.  There  was  a  private 
guard  who  went  with  the  two  women.  My  detective 
recognized  him,  and  the  bodyguard  is  a  cool  and 
dangerous  man,  too."  The  Senator's  brow  was 
blackened  with  a  ferocious  scowl. 

"Damnation,  she  is  clever,"  cried  Garston.  "I 
wanted  the  daughter  in  this  country,  for  I  can  not 
quickly  use  foreign  laws,  and  any  open  violence,  of 
course,  would  be  madness.  Tell  me  the  whole  story. 
I  must  be  at  work  at  once.  It  is  a  serious  matter ;  I 
must  think  it  over. " 

It  was  midnight  when  the  two  men  separated,  after 
drinking  a  bottle  of  "Pommery"  to  the  "ensuing  hap 
piness.  "  Garston's  eyes  were  at  last  gleaming  with  a 
triumphant  joy.  His  quick  wit  suggested  the  way 
out. 

"You  are  to  stay  quietly  on  in  the  enemy's  camp.  I 
will  let  her  think  herself  unpursued.  Her  desire  to 
hoodwink  you  is  our  only  salvation;  and  now  I  will 
prepare  Katharine  for  your  visit.  Shake  hands! 
Here's  to  your  married  happiness.  You  are  getting  a 
pearl  of  a  woman — a  woman  fit  to  be  a  queen." 


IN  THE  SWIM.  263 

"I  have  made  my  fortune,"  mused  Vreeland,  as  he 
wandered  back  to  the  "Elmleaf."  "They  are  both  of 
them  in  my  power,  Garston  and  Elaine.  He  shall 
never  know  that  Elaine  only  found  the  girl  by  chance. 
I  will  play  them  off  the  one  against  the  other." 

But,  in  the  silence  of  his  room  that  night  the  wild 
words  of  Alida  Hathorn  came  back  to  him.  Her  part 
ing  curse,  "I  leave  it  to  the  future  to  punish  you!"  "I 
don't  see  where  the  game  can  break  against  me,"  he 
reflected,  "I  hold  four  aces!"  And  so  he  slept  reas 
sured. 

He  had  read  in  the  evening  paper  the  announce 
ment  of  the  forthcoming  engagement  of  the  "well- 
known  club  man  and  millionaire,  Mr.  James  Potter, 
to  the  charming  widow  of  the  late  Frederick  Hathorn. " 
"Newspaper  enterprise!"  sneered  Vreeland.  "Well, 
marriage  seals  her  lips  like  many  another  sister  who 
has  wandered  a  few  steps  from  the  path.  I  am  safe 
now." 

So  rapid  was  the  march  of  Senator  Gars  ton's  execu 
tive  energy  that  a  week  later,  under  the  caption  of 
"Prospective  Wedding  in  High  Life,"  Vreeland  read 
the  prophetic  intimation  of  his  own  union  with  "the 
brilliant  Western  heiress,  Miss  Katharine  VanDyke 
Norreys." 

"It  is  too  late  to  recoil  now,"  he  mused,  "for  this 
engagement  will  be  telegraphed  by  Conyers  over  to 
my  'financial  backer.'  ' 

The  barriers  were  down,  and  nightly,  under  the 
guise  of  the  usual  preparations,  Vreeland  and  Garston 
conspired  against  the  woman  whose  heart  was  burning 
with  all  a  mother's  still  unsatisfied  love.  The  Senator- 
elect  was  using  all  the  mighty  resources  of  his  wit,  for 
tune  and  hardihood  to  trap  the  travelers  and  to 


264  IN  THE  SWIM. 

circumvent  the  wife  who  had  defied  him.  And  he 
wrought  in  a  stern  silence. 

There  was  a  little  scene  with  Justine  Duprez  which 
was  not  down  on  the  bills. 

And  of  that  scene,  roundsman  Daly  was  at  once 
made  aware  by  the  reports  of  his  woman  spy,  now  the 
intimate  friend  of  Justine's  old  garde-chambre. 

A  common  curiosity  and  the  confidences  engen 
dered  over  the  absinthe  glass  caused  the  two  women 
to  mark  the  comings  and  goings  of  the  handsome 
young  broker  and  the  lissome  French  lady's  maid  who 
had  prospered  so  wonderfully. 

For  Justine's  hand  was  an  open  and  a  liberal  one. 
Justine  had,  after  a  storm  of  tears,  gone  away  contented. 
In  her  heart  she  proposed  in  the  future  to  secretly 
reign  over  the  new  manage  of  her  young  tyrant  and 
dupe. 

When  Vreeland  had  at  last  quieted  his  rebellious 
dupe,  he  explained  to  her  at  once  that  in  the  new 
household  there  would  always  be  a  commanding  posi 
tion  for  herself,  should  Mrs.  Willoughby  cast  her  out 
on  her  return. 

"So  you  see,  Justine,  I  can  always  protect  you,  and 
then,  when  you  wish  to  go  over  and  settle  in  Paris,  you 
will  always  have  me  near  you  as  a  protector. " 

Harold  Vreeland  was  now  perfectly  happy,  and  a 
little  more  than  usually  self-assertive. 

For,  on  Wall  Street  all  men  now  envied  the  man  who 
was  cementing  a  union  which  would  practically  control 
the  profitable  business  resulting  from  Senator  Garston's 
vast  operations  in  stocks  and  mines. 

Garston  was  a  financial  battleship,  and  a  man  of 
mark,  even  on  Manhattan's  shores. 

"Our  policy,   Harold,"  genially  remarked    Senator 


IN  THE  SWIM.  265 

Garston,  "is  to  work  right  into  the  enemy's  camp,  and 
to  take  no  notice  of  Mrs.  Willoughby's  little  maneu 
vers.  I  shall  open  a  large  active  account  with  your 
firm.  That  gives  us  the  right  to  be  seen  together  at 
all  places  and  times.  It  will  blind  them  all.  And 
while  I  watch  Alynton,  you  can  always  keep  an  eye 
for  me  on  that  crafty  young  Wyman.  Of  course,  as 
soon  as  you  are  married,  Katharine  can  note  every  move 
of  the  woman  we  fear.  Let  them  lull  themselves  to 
sleep.  We  will  make  a  strong  team,  us  three! 
Katharine  shall  worm  into  Mrs.  Willoughby's  inti 
macy." 

And  even  in  the  bustling  office  of  Wyman  & 
Vreeland  a  deeper  respect  was  soon  engendered  for 
Vreeland's  brilliant,  dashing  successes.  "A  Senator 
behind  him,  and  with  the  handsome  young  heiress  as 
a  wife,  he  will  have  fully  as  much  weight  as  Wyman 
backed  by  his  uncle  Alynton  and  the  Endicotts,"  so 
mused  the  observant  cashier. 

In  fact,  Senator  Garston's  handlings  of  Western  and 
Southern  roads,  far-away  mines,  added  to  the  immense 
business  of  his  bold  strokes  in  the  leading  securities. 

"There  is  no  good  excuse  for  Alynton,  Wyman  nor 
Mrs.  Willoughby  pushing  you  out  of  the  firm  as  long 
as  you  really  handle  my  business,"  said  the  acute 
Garston.  "They  would  have  no  sufficient  business 
warrant  in  so  doing,  for  naturally  Alynton  and  myself 
are  bound  by  both  party  and  personal  ties,  which  must 
rise  above  any  petty  quarrel.  I  can  easily  handle 
Alynton.  He  is,  of  course,  the  secret  business  coun 
selor  of  Mrs.  Willoughby,  and  as  she  fears  me,  and  with 
reason,  she  will  never  strike  at  you,  as  long  as  our  pact 
holds. 

"And  then,   moreover,   your  marriage  with  Kath- 


266  IN  THE  SWIM. 

arine  Norreys  removes  every  possible  social  objection 
to  continuing  your  supposed  confidential  relations 
with  the  Queen  of  the  Street.  Any  kind  of  a  wife 
brings  you  within  the  'safety  line.'  Moreover,  Mrs. 
Willoughby  is  really  fond  of  Katharine,  and  those 
blue  eyes  of  the  young  lady's  are  as  keen  as  a  dia 
mond's  flashes." 

"Will  Alynton  finally  marry  this  strange  woman?" 
was  Vreeland's  searching  query. 

The  stony-faced  Senator-elect  sprang  to  his  feet, 
livid  with  rage.  And  Vreeland  marveled  as  the 
angered  man  harshly  cried : 

"Never,  by  God!  Impossible!  How  could  he? 
There's  that  girl — the  one  whom  I've  sworn  to  take 
away  from  her.  The  mother  can  not  explain  the  pres 
ence  of  the  child  to  her  admirer. 

"She  dare  not!  For  the  Alyntons  are  all  as  proud 
as  Spanish  hidalgos,  and  young  Alynton  is  no  fool. 
He  would  have  to  find  out  that  she  had  lied  to  him — 
that  her  whole  past  life  has  been  a  sham — and  no  man 
or  woman  can  ever  deceive  David  Alynton  twice.  He 
is  merciless.  I've  been  a  fellow-director  with  him  for 
years,  and  I  know  him.  I  hold  them  both  in  the 
hollow  of  my  hand. " 

The  Senator  quickly  saw  that  his  rage  had  led  him 
on  too  far,  for  the  young  man's  eyes  were  open  in 
amazement  at  the  passionate  outburst. 

"There  are  these  property  interests, "  he  grumbled, 
"and  I  suppose  she  has  hoodwinked  the  girl  as  to 
her  rights.  It's  the  old  game.  I  am  the  only  living 
man  who  can  set  it  straight,  and  I  will  do  so,  in  my 
own  way.  I  have  sworn  to  do  it  for  my  own  reasons, 
and  to  even  up  with  My  Lady. " 

When  James  Garston  went  away  to  direct  his  secret 


IN  THE  SWIM.  267 

agents,  now  watching  Lucerne  by  its  dreaming  lake, 
and  following  the  steamer  "Empress  of  India,"  near- 
ing  Hong  Kong,  Vreeland  tried  to  pierce  the  mystery 
of  Romaine  Garland's  nurture. 

"Can  it  be,"  he  pondered,  "that  the  property  which 
Elaine  enjoys  really  belongs  to  that  child?  That  the 
young  girl  was  artfully  brought  up  in  ignorance  of 
her  rights?  Has  she  been  robbed?  The  young  beauty 
may  have  broken  away  inopportunely,  and  appeared 
here  to  embarrass  the  youthful-looking  beauty  whom 
Alynton  seems  to  adore. " 

He  could  see  no  possible  solution  of  the  problem. 
"Garston  seems  to  be  enraged  at  the  mere  idea  of 
Alynton's  intimate  relations.  Can  it  be  that  a  secret 
love  in  olden  days  has  tied  the  proud  Senator  to  this 
wonderful  woman?  He  is  dead  set  against  her  drift 
ing  into  Alynton's  arms."  It  was  all  a  life  puzzle. 

He  was  ready  for  the  meanest  suspicions,  but  the 
observations  of  Justine  dispelled  them. 

"Only  friends;  nothing  more,"  had  been  the  verdict 
of  a  woman  who  would  have  gloried  to  have  held  her 
mistress  in  the  clutches  of  blackmail. 

"And  the  love  of  the  same  woman  has  now,  as  usual, 
made  Alynton  and  Garston  secret  foes,"  decided  Vree 
land. 

He  recalled  the  legendary  source  of  Mrs.  Wil- 
loughby's  tangible  fortune,  some  Western  windfall  of 
vast  richness. 

"She  knew  him  before,  she  fears  him  now,  and  has 
spirited  the  girl  away  to  keep  them  apart." 

It  seemed  clear  to  Vreeland  that  some  partner,  or 
old  associate,  perhaps  a  client  of  Garston's  in  the 
wild  West,  had  owned  both  the  property  and  the  lovely 
woman  in  her  flush  of  girlish  beauty. 


268  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"It  seems  to  be  an  old  passion,"  mused  Vreeland. 

"And  now  repulsed  by  the  mother,  whom  evidently 
he  has  pursued,  Garston  would  use  the  girl  as  a  lever 
for  his  revenge.  Once  a  breach  effected  with  Alyn- 
ton,  and  the  girl  his  ally,  then  the  Queen  of  the  Street 
would  either  drift  into  his  arms  or  have  'to  step  down 
and  out' — to  abdicate  the  crown  she  has  worn  so 
long."  Vreeland  lumbered  along,  building  up  fanciful 
solutions  of  the  mystery. 

In  the  now  almost  incessant  "duty  service"  near  his 
beautiful  fiancee,  Vreeland  a  hundred  times  endeav 
ored  to  trace  back  James  Garston's  early  life.  But 
the  blue-eyed  Nixie  who  was  soon  to  be  his  wife  only 
laughed  merrily. 

"Pray  remember,  sir,  that  Senator  Garston  is  my 
guardian.  After  my  dear  father's  death,  my  mother 
went  abroad,  and  I  was  educated  in  the  'Sacre  Cceur' 
Convent  at  Brussels.  Her  death  left  me  alone  in  the 
world. 

"  'Uncle  James'  had  been  almost  forgotten  by  me 
in  the  thirteen  years  which  we  passed  in  Paris  and 
Brussels,  and  as  I  left  the  West  a  mere  child,  all  my 
memories  are  the  vanishing  dreams  of  childhood.  All 
his  social  past  is  a  sealed  book  to  me." 

Vreeland  was  fain  to  be  content,  as  the  lovely 
ingenue  concluded:  "All  I  know  is  that  he  has  always 
managed  my  affairs,  and  that  his  personal  history  is 
linked  with  the  development  of  the  whole  region  west 
of  the  Rockies.  Why,  you  should  know  his  history 
from  your  own  Western  wanderings. " 

"Was  he  ever  married?"  timidly  hazarded  Vreeland. 
But,  the  young  society  queen  only  laughed  back. 

"Ask  him!  And  then  ponder  now  the  possibility  of 
another  marriage.  You  are  now,  sir,  to  take  me 


IN  THE  SWIM.  269 

driving-.  The  only  marriage  which  concerns  you,  is  a 
joint  affair." 

That  afternoon,  as  they  drove  through  the  park 
under  the  chaperonage  of  the  amiable  Mrs.  Volney 
McMorris,  Vreeland  unsuccessfully  endeavored  to 
allay  his  recent  dissatisfaction  at  the  absence  of  any 
womanty  background  for  the  highly  polished  "Western 
diamond, ' '  which  he  was  soon  to  win  and  wear  for  life. 

The  story  of  the  young  heiress  was  smooth  enough 
and  faultlessly  delivered.  Vreeland  forebore  to 
"pump"  Mrs.  McMorris,  for  he  was  well  aware  that 
she  was  "all  things  to  all  men,"  and  her  voluble 
explanations  would  carry  no  real  conviction. 

"She  helped  Alida  Hathorn  on  to  the  very  verge  of 
ruin, ' '  he  gloomily  recalled. 

"There  might  have  been  a  marriage  between  myself 
and  Elaine  but  for  her  vicious  intermeddling. 

"She  took  that  Isle  of  Wight  story  in  commission 
and  spread  it  all  over  New  York,  while  working  both 
sides  for  coin — a  woman  Judas!" 

While  he  returned  the  salutations  of  Messrs.  Merri- 
man,  Wiltshire  and  Rutherstone  on  the  social  parade, 
he  was  vaguely  reflecting  on  the  uselessness  of  his 
crime  as  regarded  the  stealing  of  the  hidden  paper 
and  the  tapping  of  the  private  wires,  as  well  as  the 
mail  frauds. 

It  now  followed  him  like  his  own  shadow,  and  the 
paper  was  a  source  of  countless  nightmares.  If  it 
were  only  safe ! 

"All  that  is  useless  now,"  he  growled.  And  he 
suddenly  saw  that  he  was  left  in  the  power  of  Doctor 
Hugo  Alberg,  of  Justine  and  of  August  Helms,  the 
janitor. 

"There  will  be  no  speculation  in  'Sugar'  for  months; 


IN  THE  SWIM. 

the  market  is  dead,  pending  the  reorganization  and 
New  Jersey  reincorporation. 

"My  strange  employer  is  away.  She  will  not  be 
here  for  months ;  and  she  has  also  taken  alarm  at  the 
presence  of  Garston. 

"The  whole  lot  of  them  will  probably  operate  in  a 
blind  pool  now.  There  will  be  nothing  for  me  to  gain, 
and  everything  to  lose  in  running  any  further  risks." 

He  saw  with  concern  that  Alberg  greatly  missed  his 
wealthy  and  generous  patient,  and  a  few  significant 
hints  had  proved  to  him  that  the  German  physician 
was  now  "money  hungry." 

"There  is  Justine  always  to  be  pacified,  and  that 
brute,  Helms,  too ;  he  will  surely  want  money. 

"Once  married,  and  a  fixture  here,  I  am  'nailed  to 
the  cross'  for  torture  by  these  people — if  they  should 
turn  against  me. 

"Fear  will  control  Doctor  Alberg  at  the  last," 
reflected  Vreeland.  "He  has  been  guilty  of  half- 
poisoning  his  patient. 

"Justine  I  can  surely  rely  on  as  long  as  I  keep  her  paci 
fied,  but,  that  brute  Helms  is  steadily  increasing  in  his 
money  demands.  Some  night,  when  drunk,  he  may 
blow  the  whole  thing  abroad."  And  he  had  caught  a 
glimpse  of  Helms  and  Bagley  diving  into  a  saloon 
together.  It  frightened  him. 

It  was  true  that  Helms  had  found  his  way  down 
several  times  to  the  Elmleaf  to  get  money,  in  a  half- 
fawning  and  half- threatening  bluster. 

And  on  several  occasions  when  Vreeland  was  absent, 
the  grave-faced  valet,  Bagley,  had  joined  the  janitor, 
and  in  some  hours  spent  over  the  cups  of  Gambrinus 
had  gained  pointers  which  had  given  the  lively  rounds 
man,  Dan  Daly,  some  very  valuable  hints. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  271 

There  was  in  his  cup  of  "bittersweet,"  however,  one 
great  consolation  to  the  successful  Harold  Vreeland, 
whom  all  men  now  envied. 

The  impending  union  with  Katharine  Norreys  would 
found  his  fortunes  on  a  solid  basis ;  he  would  have  the 
absolute  protection  of  the  great  speculative  Senator,  and 
the  reports  of  his  detectives  told  him  that  Hugh  Con- 
yers  was  simply  buried  in  his  journalistic  duties.  It 
seemed  to  be  a  lull  in  the  war,  even  the  pickets  had 
ceased  firing. 

There  were  no  conferences  with  Judge  Hiram  Endi- 
cott,  and  nothing  to  indicate  any  activity  among 
Romaine  Garland's  friends. 

Only  one  side  of  the  whole  affair  remained  dark  to 
Vreeland.  Even  Justine  Duprez  could  not  tell  him 
how  or  why  Elaine  Willoughby  had  openly  taken  her 
unacknowledged  daughter  to  her  house  for  shelter. 

It  was  as  yet  a  mystery  as  to  whether  fear,  intrigue 
or  accident  had  brought  the  lovely  girl  into  the  opened 
arms  of  her  still  beautiful  mother. 

"All  I  know,"  said  Justine,  in  a  conference  arranged 
for  this  purpose  by  her  now  indifferent  fellow-con 
spirator,  "all  I  could  find  out  was,  that  this  green-eyed 
cripple,  this  little  sycophant  Irelandaise,  who  now  is 
my  tyrant,  brought  the  tall  girl  late  one  evening  to 
the  'Circassia. '  " 

"It  was  a  strange  visit,"  murmured  Justine,  "for 
she  brought  no  luggage,  and  that  girl  never  left  my 
mistress'  presence  for  a  moment,  till  she  went  away 
with  the  two  Conyers. 

"I  am  certain  that  Madame  had  never  seen  this  girl 
in  the  seven  years  of  my  employ.  There  were  no 
pictures,  no  relics  of  childhood — nothing.  And  I  was 

18 


272  IN  THE  SWIM. 

always  on  the  lookout  for  the  mystery  of  Madame 's 
life—" 

Justine  demurely  dropped  her  eyes. 

"Bah!"  she  cried;  "a  woman  with  blood  as  cold  as 
a  fish!  No  life,  no  love;  she  cares  for  nothing  but 
money. 

"Among  all  of  them,  not  a  lover!  I  thought  she 
was  fond  of  the  dead  Mr.  Hathorn  once,  but  he  was 
soon  on  a  level  with  the  others. " 

Justine's  voice  was  duly  scornful. 

"And  then  her  tears  and  frequent  fits  of  sorrow! 
That  was  the  record  the  whole  of  seven  years. 

"The  last  thing  I  saw  of  her — a  stolen  glance — she 
had  this  girl's  picture  in  her  hand,  and  was  weeping 
over  it. 

"If  she  is  a  child  of  hers,  she  is  probably  a  child 
of  shame.  She  now  fears  the  exposure,  and  has  gone 
abroad  to  hide  the  girl  away  forever.  Trust  to  Jus 
tine's  experience!  I  know  these  women  saints.  They 
always  have  nibbled  at  le  fruit  defendu — hypocrites!" 

Mr.  Harold  Vreeland  fancied  that  he  saw  light  at 
last.  "I  believe  that  I  can  observe  Senator  Garston's 
game.  He  would  use  this  hidden  fact  to  force  Elaine 
Willoughby  into  his  arms.  By  Jove!  she  does  fear 
him!  Perhaps  Justine  is  right. 

"And  so,  when  I  am  married  to  Katharine,  and 
Garston  is  free  of  all  social  claims,  if  he  alone  knows 
her  secret,  it  may  be  buried  forever  in  her  marriage 
with  him. 

"To  bring  the  proper  pressure  to  bear,  he  must  have 
the  girl  first.  And  he  would  not  be  too  good  to  bribe 
the  girl  with  a  fancied  inheritance.  Once  that  the 
child  is  under  his  influence,  Elaine's  proud  heart  must 
either  bend  or  break. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  273 

"For  he  will  win  his  way  to  her  side,  even  across 
the  fires  of  Alyn ton's  hate  or  the  social  ruin  of  Elaine's 
good  name."  Vreeland  already  knew  the  iron  will  of 
the  man  who  was  driving  ahead  with  recklessness  in 
the  chase. 

And  so,  armed  with  the  deadly  secret  of  the  enor 
mously  powerful  cabal,  the  stolen  document,  Vreeland 
now  knew  that  if  brought  to  bay,  Elaine  would  per 
haps  be  sacrificed  by  the  secret  syndicate,  despised  by 
the  undeceived  Alynton,  and  then,  with  the  secret  of 
her  early  life  in  Garston's  possession,  be  utterly  at 
his  mercy.  "Yes,  she  is  in  the  toils,"  he  muttered. 
"There  is  no  escape  for  her." 

It  was  at  the  wish  of  Senator  James  Garston,  now 
lavishly  liberal  in  his  preparations  for  his  ward's  wed 
ding,  that  the  bridal  was  postponed  to  the  first  days  of 
June. 

"All  is  going  on  well,  Harold,"  said  Garston. 
"We  have  worked  into  a  thorough  accord  with  all  her 
repre  sentati  ves. 

"And  you  will  not  find  love-making  with  Katharine 
Norreys  an  irksome  task.  I  wish  only  to  wait  till  I 
learn  that  Elaine  Willoughby  has  landed  at  Brindisi. 

"Somewhere  on  the  Continent  she  will  surely  meet 
this  girl.  I  shall  have  instant  reports  from  my  detec 
tives.  For  so  far,  we  have  found  out  Elaine's  route, 
but,  the  girl  is  still  hidden. 

"I  wish  you  to  go  away  at  once  on  your  wedding 
tour,  and  then  to  keep  Mrs.  Willoughby  in  sight — 
within  touch.  I  only  want  to  meet  the  mother  and 
daughter  face  to  face — only  once.  I  will  have  my 
innings  then,  and  finish  the  whole  matter  in  short 
order. ' '  His  face  was  merciless  now. 

"Now,  you  will  be  no  object  of  suspicion  on  your 

IX 


274  IN  THE  SWIM. 

wedding  tour;  such  a  happy  voyage  always  explains 
itself,"  he  sardonically  smiled.  "The  moment  that  I 
am  cabled  for,  I  shall  depart  incognito.  My  work  will 
be  quickly  done  when  I  find  this  sly  woman  and  her 
child  together.  The  whole  world  is  not  wide  enough 
to  hide  that  child  from  me."  And  Vreeland  drifted 
daily  under  Garston's  strong  control;  he  was  floating 
with  the  tide,  drunken  with  all  his  successes. 

The  days  drifted  along  in  all  the  preoccupation  of 
daily  business  and  the  growing  bustle  of  the  impending 
wedding. 

Harold  Vreeland  was  most  agreeably  surprised  in 
the  later  days  of  May  by  a  cordial  letter  from  Mrs. 
Willoughby,  posted  at  Port  Said.  Her  congratulations 
upon  his  impending  marriage  were  coupled  with  her 
carte  blanche  as  to  leave  of  absence  from  the  firm, 
and  the  significant  direction  to  leave  Bagley  in  charge 
at  the  Elmleaf. 

"We  shall  have  business  uses  for  the  apartment 
during  the  winter,  and  Miss  Kelly  will  give  Bagley  all 
his  orders  and  attend  to  the  accounts.  I  have  directed 
Judge  Endicott  to  present  in  my  name  to  your  wife 
a  proper  reminder  of  the  esteem  which  I  have  for 
her." 

The  notification  three  days  before  the  wedding, 
through  Noel  Endicott,  that  Mrs.  Willoughby  had 
placed  a  year's  salary  at  his  personal  disposal  on  the 
books  of  the  firm,  as  an  extra  bonus,  carried  away  the 
last  vestige  of  Vreeland's  haunting  fears. 

Nothing  remained  of  the  awkward  episode  of  the 
inquiry  as  to  the  stolen  document,  and  Vreeland  had 
already  settled  with  Doctor  Alberg,  and  Helms  with 
an  affected  liberality,  for  his  absence. 

Now  socially  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Wilt- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  275 

shire,  Merriman  and  Rutherstone,  his  three  grooms 
men,  and  having  seen  the  resplendent  Mrs.  Volney 
McMorris  rally  many  beautiful  Ishmaelites,  married 
and  single,  around  his  bride,  Vreeland  was  moved 
forward  to  the  altar  on  the  golden  flood  of  Senator 
Garston's  splendidly  liberal  preliminary  entertaining. 

The  Western  millionaire  was  touching  up  every 
cloud  hanging  over  Katharine  VanDyke  Norrey's 
social  haziness  with  a  golden  lining. 

There  remained  but  two  things  for  the  happy 
groom  to  do  now. 

The  one  was  to  have  a  last  interview  with  Justine, 
who  was  now  reduced  to  a  calm  subserviency  to  the 
orders  of  the  young  ' '  Private  Secretary, ' '  and  the  other 
to  effect  a  safe  deposit  in  some  satisfactory  place  of  the 
stolen  document  and  its  tell-tale  copy. 

He  had  decided  to  be  liberal  with  Justine  in  money 
matters,  and  to  entrust  her  in  his  three  months' 
absence  with  the  watching  of  Helms,  the  janitor,  and 
the  disgruntled  German  doctor. 

A  famous  plan  suggested  itself !  Justine  should  feed 
out  to  these  men  money,  in  his  name,  during  his 
absence. 

"And  that,  with  the  hope  of  more,  will  keep  them 
true  to  me,  as  rascals  go,  till  I  return. ' '  He  had  once 
decided  to  dismantle  the  secret  connections  with  Mrs. 
Willoughby's  telegraph  and  telephone.  It  was  the 
subject  of  a  long,  introspective  reverie. 

But  reflection  had  told  him  of  a  possible  mistake. 
And  perhaps  in  his  absence,  Justine  might  glean 
from  the  detained  correspondence  delivered  at  the 
"Circassia,"  some  facts  to  guide  both  Senator  Garston 
and  himself.  Yes,  the  "underground  railroad"  should 


2  76  IN  THE  SWIM. 

not  be  disturbed.  Its  existence  was  as  yet  concealed 
from  all  his  enemies. 

The  use  in  the  next  winter  of  the  "Elmleaf"  rooms 
for  a  concealed  headquarters  of  speculation  caused 
him  to  leave  the  wires  in  position.  ' '  It  might  excite 
these  people's  suspicions.  I  must  appear  to  trust 
them,"  he  decided,  "and  Garston  may  even  make  a 
million  over  the  private  tips  I  can  give  him  if  I  am  up 
to  their  game. ' ' 

Suddenly  it  occurred  to  him  that  his  own  marriage 
might  change  the  situation,  and  yet,  there  were  Elaine 
Willoughby's  recent  orders. 

"She  means  probably  to  hide  her  child,  and  then 
come  back  and  be  Queen  of  the  Street  again,"  he 
smiled.  "The  ruling  passion.  She  has  the  specu 
lative  mania  still. ' '  For  it  was  clear  to  him  now  that 
the  presence  of  mother  and  daughter  together  in  New 
York  City  was  an  unnecessary  risk. 

And  so,  even  on  the  threshold  of  his  marriage  Harold 
Vreeland  feared  to  trust  his  bride  with  the  secret  of 
the  stolen  document.  They  were  to  live  at  the  Hotel 
Savoy  on  their  return,  "so  as  to  be  near  Uncle  James, 
at  the  Plaza." 

With  a  moral  cowardice  which  he  could  not  explain, 
Vreeland  had  as  yet  declined  to  face  the  burning 
question  of  the  stolen  document.  The  copy  he  had 
always  carried  secreted  within  the  waistcoat  lining  of 
his  traveling  suit.  "I  can  easily  leave  that  over  in 
Europe,"  he  murmured.  "The  original.  Where 
shall  I  hide  it?"  He  was  long  in  the  dark. 

But  it  was  by  a  devilish  impulse,  aided  by  accident, 
that  he  found  a  place  in  Justine  Duprez's  rooms  on 
South  Fifth  Avenue  to  safely  hide  the  dangerous 
original. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  277 

One  of  the  plates  of  a  door  framing  had  sprung 
partly  loose.  A  sudden  idea  seized  him.  Her  rooms 
were  the  safest  place  for  many  reasons. 

To  gain  time  for  preparation,  he  sent  the  old  hag 
away  on  an  errand. 

Sealed  in  a  cloth  envelope,  the  paper  was  soon  hidden 
behind  the  upper  framing  plate,  and  with  a  hammer, 
covered  with  his  kid  gloves,  he  drove  the  half-dozen 
old,  rusted  nails  tightly  home.  And  he  gazed  in 
triumph  at  the  neat  device. 

"They  will  of  course  think  that  she  stole  it,  should  it 
ever  be  found,"  he  mused  triumphantly,  as  he  lit  a 
Henry  Clay  and  gloated  over  his  cunning. 

"If  the  house  should  burn  I  am  safe.  In  every  way 
it  would  go  up  in  flames.  If  I  should  die,  then  it 
makes  no  difference  to  me  what  happens.  If  she  is 
caught — this  would  be  damning  evidence  only  against 
her. 

"And  I  would  never  dare  to  trust  myself  with 
either  Garston  or  my  wife,  and  be  found  out  in  the 
custody  of  that  document. 

"Accidents  will  happen;  I  might  fall  ill,  and  now 
no  matter  what  befalls,  it  never  can  be  traced  to  me. ' ' 

He  grinned  with  joy  as  he  contemplated  depositing 
the  copy  abroad,  under  an  assumed  name. 

"It  will  there  be  safe  from  all  American  legal  pro 
cess,  and  the  original  is  here  where  I  can  use  it  if 
needed,  and  as  it  is,  it  can  never  be  traced  to  me." 

He  carefully  examined  the  exterior  of  the  row  of 
solid  brick  tenements.  They  were  good  for  a  life  of 
fifty  years. 

As  he  walked  away,  when  he  had  "finished  his  let 
ters,"  and  left  a  last  greeting  for  Justine,  he  stood 
upon  the  heights  of  an  impregnable  position. 


278  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"It  was  a  stroke  of  genius,  that  last  idea  of  mine!" 
he  gaily  cried,  as  his  eye  rested  on  an  old  woman 
who  had  just  descended  the  stair.  He  knew  not  the 
burden  of  her  eager  soul.  She  carried  his  fate ! 

Once  around  the  corner,  that  old  woman  scuttered 
away  to  find  roundsman  Dan  Daly,  for  the  peep-hole 
had  covered  a  keenly-glittering  eye,  even  after  Jus 
tine  had  left  her  sighing  lover  to  his  "last  bachelor 
letters. "  And  thus  the  hiding-place  was  known  to  more 
than  one. 

But  Vreeland  hastened  away  in  a  triumphant  glow 
of  satisfaction. 

The  splendors  of  the  Grace  Church  wedding,  the 
gilded  festivity  of  the  Waldorf  wedding  dinner,  and 
all  the  countless  preoccupations  of  the  impending 
voyage  busied  Harold  Vreeland's  excited  mind  for 
three  days. 

There  were  hundreds  of  valuable  wedding  presents 
to  deposit  in  safety,  for  society  had  showered  gifts 
upon  the  successful  interloper  with  its  hard-hearted, 
hollow  flattery  of  success.  It  had  been  a  "society 
event,"  and  his  face,  with  that  of  the  beautiful  bride, 
had  ornamented  several  "up-to-date"  journals. 

The  flower-decked  bridal  staterooms  of  the  "Cam 
pania"  had  received  Vreeland's  party,  and  Messrs. 
Rutherstone,  Merriman  and  Wiltshire  were  joining  the 
bride  and  bridesmaids  in  the  parting  "loving  cup,"  the 
table  was  covered  with  journals  filled  with  the  usual 
"glowing  accounts"  and  piled  up  high  with  con 
gratulatory  letters  and  telegrams,  when  "Uncle  James 
drew  the  complacent  bridegroom  aside. 

In  a  private  nook,  he  turned  a  scowling  face  to  the 
happy  Vreeland. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  279 

A  yellow  telegraph  envelope  fluttered  from  his  hand 
to  the  desk  as  he  read  again  these  disquieting  words : 

"She  has  telegraphed  for  a  cabin  on  the  'Normandie,' 
and  is  coming  home  alone.  Took  a  special  train  from 
Vienna  to  Havre.  All  traces  of  girl  lost. ' ' 

"Vreeland,"  growled  the  maddened  man,  "some  one 
has  betrayed  us.  Wait  at  the  Hotel  Cecil,  London, 
for  my  cipher  orders. 

"That  woman  is  a  devil  in  artfulness,  and  it  is  a 
fight  to  the  death  now. " 

Ten  minutes  later,  the  "Campania"  was  plowing 
down  the  beautiful  bay. 


28o  IN  THE  SWIM. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
FOR  THE  CHILD'S  SAKE! 

The  crowding  passengers  lounging  on  the  decks 
of  the  "Campania"  and  "Normandie"  idly  watched 
the  fleeting  waves  torn  up  by  the  ocean  racers  as  they 
swept  by  each  other  in  mid-ocean  four  days  later,  but 
there  were  strangely  agitated  hearts,  too,  on  the  pass 
ing  steamers,  when  the  signal  flags  were  broken  out. 

For,  the  secret  enemies  now  swept  past  each  other 
at  the  distance  of  a  few  furlongs. 

"What  the  devil  can  the  real  motive  of  her  quick 
return  be?"  angrily  mused  bridegroom  Vreeland,  as 
he  called  up  again  Senator  Garston's  baffled  fury  on 
learning  that  for  all  his  goading  on,  his  detectives 
had  failed  to  locate  the  missing  Romaine  Garland. 

He  led  his  beautiful  bride  back  to  her  room,  and  then 
left  her  to  the  enjoyment  of  "Les  Denis-Vierges, " 
while  he  eyed  the  fast-receding  "Normandie." 

"  Another  big  deal  in  'Sugar,'  "  he  suddenly  thought, 
and  he  felt  himself  perhaps  hoodwinked  by  both  Sen 
ators  and  the  handsome  woman  who  had  so  artfully  led 
him  on  to  his  fate.  "It  may  be  that  they  all  are  fool 
ing  me;  I  may  have  been  merely  jockeyed  away. 
Mrs.  Willoughby  can  work  the  'off  side'  of  her  deals 
alone  from  the  '  Elmleaf , '  and  the  regular  transactions 
will  go  on  as  usual  through  our  firm,  really  Alynton 
&  Willoughby.  Or,  she  may  have  picked  up  another 
prote'ge'.  God  only  knows  what  a  woman  may  do. 

"They  all  have  their  secrets,   by   Jove!      Senator 


IN  THE  SWIM.  281 

Garston  or  this  cool  devil,   Hugh  Conyers,  may  now 
turn  up  as  the  secret  broker  in  my  place. 

It  suddenly  occurred  to  him  that  the  powerful  West 
ern  millionaire  might  really  be  the  favored  lover,  and 
Alynton,  after  all,  only  the  dupe  of  a  growing  passion. 
"I  am  powerless  to  go  further  now,"  he  groaned,  as 
he  gazed  at  the  rooms  where  his  lovely  and  exacting 
bride  was  "squeezing  the  orange  of  life"  to  its  last  drop. 
He  had  found  out,  even  now,  that  there  were  thorns 
upon  his  rosebud. 

He  was  not  yet  entirely  satisfied  with  the  status  of 
husband  so  recently  assumed.  Still  affecting  all  the 
delicacy  of  the  lover,  he  had,  however,  quite  prac 
tically  approached  the  subject  of  Katharine  Norrey's 
investments  "in  the  hands  of  Uncle  James." 

And  he  soon  found  out  that  the  exquisite  form  of 
his  dazzling  blonde  wife  hid  a  resolute  and  undaunted 
spirit,  an  unruffled  temper,  and  an  easy,  natural 
defiance  of  all  marital  control.  "Where  did  she  get 
her  experience  of  life?"  mused  the  startled  bridegroom. 

"You  must  go  over  all  these  tiresome  matters, 
Harold,  with  Uncle  James,  on  our  return,"  the  over 
wearied,  fashionable  bride  answered. 

"I  have  never  entered  into  any  details  with  him, 
and  I  supposed,  of  course,  that  you  and  he  had  covered 
all  this  ground.  I  have  only  asked  him  for  money  as 
I  needed  it  since  my  return,  and  he  has  always  sent 
me  his  checks.  It  is  for  you,  both  business  men,  to 
regulate  such  matters."  And  she  cast  her  eyes  down 
again  on  her  entrancing  book. 

"Then  you  have  no  permanent  bank  account  of  your 
own?"  moodily  demanded  Vr-eeland. 

"Why  should  I  have  one?"  innocently  replied  Mrs. 
Katharine  Vreeland,  "when  Uncle  James  has  always 


282  IN  THE  SWIM. 

paid  the  bills  and  furnished  me  all  that  I  ask?  I  have 
never  asked  him  for  any  formal  accounting. "  Harold 
Vreeland  was  secretly  nettled  at  her  easy  carelessness. 

"And  if  he  were  to  die,  if  anything  happened,  you 
would  then  know  nothing  of  your  own  affairs,"  said 
the  dissatisfied  husband. 

"No  more  than  I  know  now  of  yours,  my  dear," 
calmly  answered  Katharine,  settling  herself  deeper  in 
her  cushions.  "Uncle  James  simply  told  me  that  you 
were  a  very  rich  man,  and  of  course,  I  took  his  word. 
I  have  not  asked  you  to  inventory  your  own  posses 
sions.  " 

She  was  turning  an  unusually  interesting  leaf  as 
Vreeland  walked  out  of  the  cabin  in  a  suppressed 
rage. 

"We  are  both  at  sea,  it  appears,"  was  his  dis 
quieting  thought,  and  again  the  remembrances  of  that 
slender  family  tree  of  his  lovely  wife  annoyed  him. 
It  seemed  to  begin  and  end  in  the  graves  of  the  dead 
parents,  who  were  only  gruesome  shadows. 

"I  will  go  over  this  whole  ugly  matter  with  Garston 
at  once,  just  as  soon  as  I  see  him,"  was  Vreeland's 
mental  decision.  "Katharine  is  either  a  child-wife  of 
the  Dora  order,  or  else  far  deeper  than  the  sea  that  we 
are  skimming  over  now. " 

It  came  to  him  cogently  that  he  had  taken  her  "on 
trust"  largely,  and  that  a  current  of  life's  mysterious 
undertow  had  swept  him  along  into  Senator  Garston 's 
power.  There  was  no  going  back,  however. 

"It  is  too  late  to  hesitate  now,"  he  mused,  as  he 
uneasily  gazed  back  toward  America,  well  knowing 
that  some  giant  game  might  be  played  in  his  absence. 

In  the  deal  there  would  be  no  cards  for  him,  how 
ever  the  luck  might  turn.  And  there  remained  but 


IN  THE  SWIM.  283 

one  golden  gleam  in  the  gray  clouds.  He  had  that 
paper  with  which  to  dominate  Mrs.  Willoughby.  But, 
it  was  a  dangerous  weapon ;  it  might  prove  a  boom 
erang. 

"Justine  Duprez  stands  between  me  and  all  harm. 
That  was  a  master-stroke !  And  so  I  can  cut  into  the 
game  as  I  wish,  on  my  return.  The  very  first  thing  I 
shall  do  will  be  to  get  Katharine's  fortune  out  of 
Garston's  control.  He  shall  face  the  music.  And  yet, 
I  can  afford  no  quarrel  until  that  is  all  safe. " 

In  the  month  which  followed  this  vain  attempt  at 
probing  the  financial  resources  of  the  wife  of  his 
bosom,  Mr.  Harold  Vreeland,  at  the  Hotel  Cecil,  Lon 
don,  found  the  beautiful  Katharine's  money-spending 
power  to  be  something  abnormal. 

There  was  a  rapid  exchange  of  letters  and  cable 
ciphers  between  Garston  and  the  young  broker  spy, 
but  the  husband  was  never  enlightened  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  frequent  telegrams  and  letters  passing 
between  "Uncle  James"  and  his  ward. 

It  vastly  annoyed  him — this  continued  private 
commerce  of  ideas. 

The  questions  of  the  husband  were  frankly  enough 
met.  "I  have  always  been  accustomed  to  do  exactly 
as  I  pleased,"  the  lady  remarked,  with  a  bright,  hard 
smile.  Vreeland's  face  hardened. 

"And  now,  that  you  are  married?"  demanded  Vree 
land,  angrily. 

"I  shall  continue  to  do  so,  Harold,"  his  wife  sweetly 
replied. 

"If  you  would  have  me  lead  a  Darby  and  Joan  life, 
please  to  remember  that  sort  of  thing  went  out  with 
the  'Rollo  books'  and  'Faith  Gartney's  Girlhood!'  " 

Mr.   Harold  Vreeland,  the  husband  of  a  few  weeks, 


284  IN  THE  SWIM. 

soon  realized  that  while  he  was  doing  the  clubs  and 
music  halls  of  London,  his  resplendent  wife  had 
quietly  gathered  up  quite  a  coterie  of  admiring  Ameri 
can  men,  generally  conversationally  lumped  as  "the 
Western  gang." 

These  ardent  cavaliers  seemed  to  be  all  wifeless, 
and,  strangely  enough  too,  without  mothers  or  sisters. 
"  'Uncle  James'  friends,"  was  Mrs.  Vreeland's  saving 
clause,  when  at  last  her  angered  husband  remonstrated 
at  their  increasing  circle.  He  was  beginning  to  be 
agnostic  as  to  her  guilelessness. 

And  on  their  removal  to  Paris,  where  certain  of  these 
"friends"  soon  after  appeared,  Katharine  Vreeland 
bravely  continued  "to  do  as  she  pleased,"  and  her  now 
bitter  husband  partook  himself  to  sparkling  wine 
and  "the  sights  of  Paris." 

He  was  driven  along  from  day  to  day,  for  he  had 
no  reliable  news  from  the  seat  of  war.  He  realized 
that  he  was  alone  in  the  world  and  without  one 
trusty  friend.  His  wife  was  only  a  bright  enigma. 

"The  lone-hand  game  has  its  disadvantages,  I 
perceive,"  was  his  bitter  secret  comment,  as  he  tired  of 
the  Hotel  Continental — the  perfunctory  drives  in  the 
Bois,  the  open  summer  amusements — and  visibly 
fretted  at  his  wife's  endless  shopping. 

Even  with  Garston's  substantial  bribe,  he  began  to 
see  that  Mrs.  Katharine  Vreeland's  "separate  estate" 
was  to  become  a  very  "burning  question" — in  the 
near  future. 

She  was  a  "money-eater"  of  the  first  class. 

"Let  us  get  back  to  New  York,"  he  moodily  said 
after  one  of  a  series  of  wordy  recriminations.  "With 
all  my  heart,"  placidly  retorted  the  "beautiful  Mrs. 
Vreeland, ' '  for  she  had  now  acquired  that  professional 


IN  THE  SWIM.  285 

designation  in  the  journals  and  the  cant  phrases  of  the 
uneasy  floating  "American  circle"  of  Parisian  high 
life. 

Harold  Vreeland  was  now  mentally  tired  of  the 
by-play  of  marital  fencing.  He  realized,  in  all  their 
varied  encounters,  that  she  was  calmly  superior  at 
every  clash. 

Bright,  bold  and  ready,  she  "came  back  at  him" 
every  time,  and  he  was  quietly  cornered  by  that  flash 
ing  rapier,  her  tongue.  What  man  can  prevail  against 
that  two-edged  sword? 

But  one  resource  was  left.  He  had  run  the  gamut 
of  sullenness,  persuasion,  a  bit  of  bullying,  some 
pleading  and  even  a  touch  of  lofty  tenderness,  but  her 
point  was  carried  high,  her  wrist  easy,  and  her  blade 
opposed  to  him  at  every  turn. 

He  could  not  avouch  himself  a  mere  fortune-hunter, 
and  so,  he  took  refuge  in  an  ominous  and  expectant 
silence.  ' '  I  will  get  hold  of  her  estate,  and  then  curb 
her  extravagance, ' '  he  brooded. 

His  worst  fears  as  to  the  "underground  railroad" 
communications  of  the  "uncle"  and  ward  were  realized 
when  he  finally  received  a  positive  request  of  Senator 
Garston  for  an  immediate  return. 

"I  want  you  at  once.  I  wish  to  lay  out  our  plans  for 
the  winter.  And  if  I  am  to  trap  this  underhanded, 
intrigant  Mrs.  Willoughby,  I  must  finish  my  work 
before  the  opening  of  the  session  of  Congress,  and  our 
committees  will  begin  soon  to  meet.  Come  on,  with 
no  delay."  The  words  were  almost  mandatory,  and 
they  annoyed  him  strangely. 

Returning  from  his  banker's  with  this  letter,  he 
found  his  wife's  two  maids  busied  in  packing  up  all 
her  effects.  He  was  startled,  but  took  the  defensive. 


286  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Something  impelled  him  to  keep  the  news  to  himself. 
"I  am  tired  of  Paris,"  shortly  said  his  wife,  as  she 
recognized  the  drifting  odor  of  an  absinthe  frappee. 
"We  can  just  catch  the  Gascogne,  and  so,  I  have 
ordered  all  my  bills  sent  in.  You  must  attend  to  them, 
and  then,  secure  our  passage. ' ' 

"Let  me  know  their  probable  amount,"  gruffly 
answered  the  husband,  as  he  departed  for  the  steamer 
office.  He  was  beginning  to  feel  a  master  hand  now. 

"She  had  the  news  before  I  received  it,"  he  growled. 
"And  I  swear  I  will  make  it  my  pleasing  duty  to 
bring  '  Uncle  James'  to  book,  on  my  return.  I  will 
get  her  property  into  my  hands,  and  control  it. 

"She  would  beggar  even  a  Vanderbilt,  an  Astor  or 
a  Goelet,  if  given  a  free  hand. ' '  Vreeland  aspired  to 
the  conquest  of  this  defiant  beauty  in  rebellion. 

It  so  happened  that  the  game  as  laid  out  by  "Uncle 
James"  suited  all  three;  but,  while  he  thirsted  to  see 
Justine  Duprez  once  more  and  to  confer  with  Doctor 
Alberg,  Vreeland  was  really  anxious  at  heart  to 
re-enter  the  comparative  protection  of  his  Wall  Street 
office. 

"By  Jove!  I  am  at  least  between  the  lines  there," 
he  mused.  "I  can  frighten  both  sides,  and  so,  guard 
myself. ' ' 

It  was  on  the  Gascogne  that  he  watched  Katharine 
VanDyke  Norreys  as  the  Count  de  Millefleurs  (a  young 
attache*  going  over  on  his  first  appointment)  bent  over 
her  steamer  chair. 

"This  marriage  has  only  hung  a  millstone  around 
my  neck, "he  resentfully  brooded.  "And  I  wonder 
if  I  was  only  brought  in  to  relieve  'Uncle  James.'  "  It 
was  a  mean  suspicion,  but  it  clung  closely  to  him. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  287 

He  was  now  the  prey  of  ugly  thoughts,  and  fleeting 
fears  disturbed  "the  sleep  of  Richard." 

There  were  times  when  he  feared  for  the  safety  of 
the  document  so  deftly  hidden  away.  The  copy  had 
been  artfully  deposited  (under  receipt)  in  a  Belgian 
branch  bank  in  Paris,  under  an  assumed  name,  and  the 
banker's  receipt  was  now  sewed  in  his  waistcoat. 
"Thank  God!  That  is  all  safe!"  he  sighed. 

He  little  reflected  that  one  day,  laughing  over  the 
"Agony  Column"  of  the  London  Times,  his  eye  had 
paused  at  the  name  "Martha  Wilmot. "  Some 
trace  of  familiarity,  some  fleeting  memory  caused  him 
to  read  the  few  lines. 

"Handsome  reward  and  the  most  complete  immunity 
guaranteed.  Greatly  to  your  advantage.  Communicate 
in  any  way." 

The  signature,  "New  York,"  followed  by  an 
address,  closed  the  expensively  placed  announcement. 

"Some  relic  of  man's  folly  and  woman's  frailty!" 
he  laughed.  "The  old,  old  game  goes  on  forever." 

And  yet,  he  little  dreamed  that  Hugh  Conyers  and 
handsome  Dan  Daly  were  now  the  right  and  left  hand 
men  of  Judge  Hiram  Endicott,  who  was  engaged  in 
some  very  interesting  metropolitan  researches. 

In  far-away  New  York,  there  was  the  veiled  duel  of 
two  fearless  intellects  going  on,  even  in  the  summer 
days,  when  the  town  was  empty. 

Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby  was  again  the  radiant  mis 
tress  of  Lakemere,  although  she  spent  a  portion  of 
her  time  in  town  at  the  Circassia. 

There  was  now  a  strange  glow  of  happiness  shining 
on  the  splendid  woman's  face,  and  the  services  of 
Doctor  Hugo  Alberg  were  permanently  discontinued. 

It  was  impossible  for    the    revengeful    Teuton   to 


288  IN  THE  SWIM. 

learn  the  reason  from  Justine  Duprez.  The  courteous 
terms  of  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby's  letter,  inclosing  a 
check  for  his  annual  account,  were  too  unmistakable 
to  be  misconstrued  even  by  the  dense  German.  It 
was  a  conge  not  to  be  misunderstood.  His  Waterloo ! 

And,  in  a  roundabout  way  he  had  also  learned  that 
Judge  Endicott  and  his  nephew  made  up  the  whole 
social  circle  at  Lakemere,  •  with  Hugh  Conyers  as  a 
permanent  summer  guest. 

Hugo  Alberg  had  sworn  an  oath  that  Harold  Vree- 
land  should  recoup  him  for  the  loss  of  his  star  patient. 
He  now  only  awaited  the  return  of  his  proposed 
victim  "to  levy  the  Rhine  dues." 

A  visit  to  the  South  Fifth  Avenue  rooms  where 
Justine  had  vicariously  entertained  him  in  the  old 
days,  gave  him  the  news,  by  the  mouth  of  the  old 
denizen,  that  "/#  pauvre  Justine"  was  tied  down  at 
Lakemere. 

"Some  one  have  robbed  ze  lady  last  year,  and  now 
Justine  is  ze  prissonaire  to  watch  ze  garderobe  all  ze 
while ;  and  only  ze  travail  and  ze  solitude !  Via  tout! 
Pauvre  Justine !  E He  vent  bien par tir  pour  la  France." 
The  doctor  hungrily  awaited  Vreeland's  return  for  a 
bleeding  process. 

No  one  but  the  Frenchwoman  herself  knew  how 
tightly  the  coils  were  wound  around  her.  Shaking  in 
fear,  left  without  the  secret  protection  of  her  trait 
orous  tempter,  Vreeland,  she  dared  not  try  to  break 
away  from  Lakemere,  for  she  now  feared  the  gleaming 
wrist-irons. 

To  run  way  would  be  only  to  invite  an  instant  arrest, 
and  she  panted  for  the  time  of  the  winter's  gaieties. 
She  would  have  a  chance  perhaps  then  to  slip  away 
unknown. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  289 

Her  plan  was  already  formulated.  A  simulated 
illness,  a  last  "bleeding"  of  Harold  Vreeland,  and 
then,  a  return  to  dear  Paris.  Once  again  on  French 
soil,  she  would  be  safe.  For  Paris  would  soon  swallow 
her  up.  The  vicious  child  would  be  hidden  in  the 
mighty  bosom  of  the  Mother  of  all  Wickedness. 

"Ah!  he  shall  pay,"  she  muttered,  as  her  velvety 
eyes  rested,  lit  up  with  a  strange  fire,  on  the  beautiful 
woman  whose  iron  hand  now  held  her  so  firmly. 
"She  and  the  Kelly — how  I  could  drive  a  knife  into 
their  hearts ! ' '  she  hissed. 

"But  Justine  must  wait;  gold  first,  gold — and  then 
la  libert^ shall  be  mine." 

When  "Harold  Vreeland  and  wife"  were  duly 
domiciled  at  the  Hotel  Savoy,  he  was  not  astonished 
at  the  proximity  of  "Uncle  James"  at  the  Plaza  Hotel; 
but,  even  on  the  pier,  when  the  Senator  met  them, 
Vreeland  noted  the  ravages  of  some  overmastering 
passion  in  the  strong  man's  face. 

The  eyes  were  brilliant  and  unsteady,  there  was  a 
foreign  irritability  in  his  abrupt  manner,  and  Vree 
land 's  attempts  at  a  t$te-h-t$te  were  only  met  with  a 
sharp  command  "to  get  inside  his  old  business  lines" 
as  soon  as  he  could;  and  Vreeland,  humbled,  kept 
his  temper. 

"I  must  have  you  back  in  the  traces  again," 
sharply  cried  Garston.  "And,  I  would  get  up  to  Lake- 
mere  to-night  if  I  were  you.  See  Mrs.  Willoughby, 
and  get  safe  on  the  old  basis. 

"The  stock  market  is  humming,  and  I  will  soon  have 
need  of  you  in  Wall  Street.  I  trust  no  one  there  but 
you. " 

Harold  Vreeland  hastened  away  to  the  office,  and 
found  the  same  unimpassioned  greeting  which  had 


290  IN  THE  SWIM. 

always  characterized  Horton  Wyman.  And  in  the  rush, 
they  were  now  glad  to  have  his  aid  in  their  increasing 
affairs. 

"You  will  go,  of  course,  up  to  Lakemere  to-night?" 
said  Noel  Endicott.  ' '  I  have  already  telegraphed  your 
arrival  to  Mrs.  Willoughby. ' ' 

In  a  stolen  detour,  Vreeland  arranged  for  an  early 
morning  interview  with  Doctor  Alberg,  and  then  he 
passed  the  "Circassia"  on  his  way  to  the  train  after 
dinner. 

The  flat  demand  of  janitor  Helms  for  "backsheesh" 
keenly  angered  a  man  already  enraged  by  "Uncle 
James'  ' '  quiet  appropriation  of  the  first  evening  with 
that  hawk-eyed  free-lance  of  marital  beauty,  Mrs. 
Katharine  Vreeland,  "whose  remarkable  loveliness  had 
created  such  a  London  and  Paris  sensation. ' ' 

"I  will  soon  cut  the  Gordian  knot  between  these 
two,"  growled  Vreeland,  as  he  descended  from  the 
waiting  carriage  at  Lakemere.  "I  will  either  have 
my  wife  and  her  property  to  myself,  or  else  'Uncle 
James'  will  show  his  hand,  to  the  very  last  card. ' '  He 
was  beginning  to  be  reckless  in  a  blind  jealousy. 

The  welcome  of  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby  to  her 
returned  protege"  was  merely  a  complacently  cordial 
one,  and  yet,  in  half  an  hour,  Vreeland  bore  away  the 
assurance  of  lulled  suspicions  and  his  continued  busi 
ness  relation. 

"I  shall  soon  call  upon  Mrs.  Vreeland  and  assure 
myself  by  inspection  of  her  married  happiness," 
was  the  last  greeting  of  the  hostess,  whose  other 
guests,  if  any,  were  invisible. 

"I  will  send  for  you  to  the  'Circassia'  next  week, 
and  give  you  my  general  directions  for  some  business 
which  is  impending. ' ' 


IN  THE  SWIM.  291 

"That  woman  has  found  a  new  happiness.  Her  life 
is  now  complete,"  was  the  keen-eyed  schemer's  com 
ment  as  he  sauntered  away  toward  the  park  gates, 
where  the  impatient  horses  awaited  his  return. 

A  flitting  form  in  the  dusky  garden  walks  led  him 
toward  the  "lovers'  labyrinth,"  behind  the  unforgot- 
ten  summer  house.  His  one  friend  was  on  watch. 

"Justine!"  he  gasped,  and  he  hastened  to  stealthily 
join  her  in  the  deepened  gloom  of  the  trees.  A  new 
fear  smote  upon  his  startled  nerves. 

There  was  the  velvet-eyed  Frenchwoman  in  waiting, 
and  her  passionate  words,  her  panting  breast  and 
gleaming  eyes  told  him  of  an  unbroken  tie,  the  bond 
of  their  guilty  past. 

The  startled  woman  fled  away  at  the  sound  of  dis 
tant  voices,  while  Vreeland,  wildly  agitated  at  heart, 
hastened  to  his  carriage. 

"The  enemy  are  on  their  lines,"  he  defiantly  said. 
"I  must  strike  a  blow  somewhere,  for  Elaine  Wil- 
loughby's  vengeance  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth.  She 
has  not  been  deceived. 

"And,  Justine  is  a  virtual  prisoner.  If  she  were  to 
tell  all!"  He  stopped  short,  for  his  heart  bounded  in 
agony.  "I  must  remove  that  document,"  he  mut 
tered.  "For,  even  she  may  become  an  enemy."  He 
had  always  distrusted  all  men  and  his  marital  experience 
led  him  now  to  distrust  all  women — even  Justine. 

As  he  dashed  down  the  road  to  the  railway  station, 
Vreeland  noted  an  athletic  lad  easily  following  the 
springing  horses,  mounted  on  a  racing  bicycle. 

The  fact  that  the  same  lad  sauntered  into  the  smok 
ing-room  of  the  car,  and  patiently  dallied  with  a  cigar 
ette,  never  intimated  to  the  unconsciously  shadowed 


292  IN  THE  SWIM. 

man  that  the  schoolboy  follower  was  tracing  out  his 
every  movement. 

But,  officer  Dan  Daly  smiled  victoriously  next  day 
when  he  heard  Mary  Kelly's  brother  tell  of  Vreeland's 
brief  tryst  with  Justine,  and  his  long  interview  with 
Doctor  Alberg  in  South  Fifth  Avenue.  "I'll  get  him 
yet,  in  the  very  act,"  he  cheerfully  prophesied,  "with 
that  stolen  paper  in  his  hand." 

"The  trap  is  nearly  ready  to  spring,"  complacently 
reflected  the  Roundsman,  as  he  ordered  a  night  and 
day  watch  at  the  peep-hole  which  controlled  the  interior 
of  Justine  Duprez's  rooms. 

"I  have  sworn  not  to  marry  Mary  Kelly  till  I've  put 
the  ornaments  on  that  rascal. ' '  He  glanced  lovingly  at 
a  pair  of  spring-steel  handcuffs  of  his  own  especial 
selection.  His  fancy  jewelry ! 

The  days  gliding  along  rapidly  as  Harold  Vreeland 
dropped  into  his  old  groove  of  the  "automatic  busi 
ness  relations"  in  Wall  Street  found  him  still  the  vic 
tim  of  adverse  currents,  and  wavering  in  the  blasts  of 
contrary-blowing  winds.  He  made  no  headway 
toward  a  solid  footing. 

Socially,  the  return  of  the  Vreelands  was  an  event  of 
moment,  and  the  tide  of  unrestrained  gaiety  rose  high 
around  the  now  frankly  defiant  wife.  There  were 
soon  those  gay  cavaliers,  Merriman,  Wiltshire  and 
Rutherstone,  in  attendance,  "the  Three  Guardsmen" 
of  the  defiant  young  Western  queen. 

And  the  ever  amiable  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris  and  a 
flock  of  semi-detached  women  of  the  younger  married 
set  gathered  to  the  feast. 

"There  was  racing  and  chasing  on  Cannobie  lea, " 
and  the  brilliant  young  matron  was  soon  classed  as  a 


IN  THE  SWIM.  293 

' '  Madame  Benoiton, ' '  jamais  chez  ellef  And  Vreeland 
soon  followed  her  example,  living  also  in  the  open. 

In  the  hotel  corridors  of  the  Savoy,  the  curious 
shaven  servitors  often  listened  to  the  sounds  of  vigor 
ous  marital  debate,  wherein  the  low  growl  of  Vreeland 
followed  the  strident  soprano  of  Mrs.  Katharine. 

For,  "Uncle  James  "  had  not  yet  been  brought  to 
book !  And  the  young  husband  was  brutally  sullen. 

There  had  been  several  bitter  exchanges  of  hidden 
menaces  between  the  two  men  at  the  Hotel  Plaza. 
"I  am  fighting  the  fight  of  my  life,  Vreeland,  now, 
over  some  great  Western  properties, ' '  gruffly  answered 
Senator  Garston. 

"I've  no  time  now  to  go  into  Katharine's  affairs. 
Ask  her ;  she  will  tell  you  that  all  is  right. 

"And  I  am,  besides,  carrying  on  a  half-arm,  in-fight 
ing  duel  with  that  devil  of  a  woman. 

"I  need  you  in  your  place  to  keep  her  quiet,  and 
whether  you  wish  to  or  not,  you  shall  wait.  That's 
all."  The  iron  fist  of  the  statesman  made  the  glasses 
ring  in  an  angry  emphasis. 

"You  had  better  watch  over  your  wife  and  keep  her 
friendly  with  Mrs.  Willoughby  than  try  to  budge  me. 
I  need  both  your  help  now,  and,  I  propose  to  have  it," 
was  Garston's  last  shot,  as  he  strode  away.  Certainly 
"Uncle  James"  did  not  mince  matters. 

And  as  the  days  drifted  on,  Vreeland  became  an 
object  of  remark,  even  in  the  hurry  of  Wall  Street. 
His  wife  seemed  to  be  on  terms  of  a  frank  social  inti 
macy  with  the  Lady  of  Lakemere,  but  the  man  whom 
all  had  envied  was  rapidly  becoming  a  profitable 
habitue"  of  the  Caf6  Savarin.  It  was  the  beginning  of 
the  end  of  the  "splendid  run  of  luck." 

The  funds  received  from  Senator  Garston,  his  pur- 


294  IN  THE  SWIM. 

chase  price,  had  been  seriously  depleted  by  the  young 
wife's  extravagance,  and  soon,  both  roundsman  Dan 
Daly  and  the  cool  Noel  Endicott  laid  before  Mrs. 
Elaine  Willoughby  the  proof  of  Harold  Vreeland's 
heavy  outside  speculations  in  the ' '  active  stocks. ' '  The 
desperate  man  was  "plunging"  now  blindly. 

Both  of  these  secret  agents  marveled,  in  their  differ 
ent  interviews,  when  the  Queen  of  the  Street  answered 
the  mute  inquiries  of  their  eyes: 

"Just  let  him  go  on;  do  nothing  whatever  to  inter 
rupt  him.  Only  report  all  to  me."  And  onward 
dashed  Vreeland  toward  unknown  reefs  of  woe. 

She  knew,  too,  that  a  haggard-eyed  man  often  stole 
over  the  walls  of  Lakemere,  like  a  thief  in  the  night, 
now,  to  meet  Justine  Duprez,  who  was  just  begin 
ning  in  her  own  cowardly  heart,  to  wonder  whether  a 
frank  confession  might  not  save  her. 

For  there  were  no  "sure  tips"  now  to  aid  Harold 
Vreeland's  redoubled  plunging,  and  the  "strong  spirit 
of  wine"  was  burning  away  the  brain  of  the  man  whose 
once  handsome  face  was  now  distorted  with  racking 
emotions  and  bloated  by  cognac.  He  was  on  a  steep 
"down  grade." 

"He  may  kill  me!"  tremblingly  whispered  Justine, 
who  secretly  counted  up  her  gains  safely  stored  away 
in  Paris.  "I  might  tell  them  all,  and  then  go  away 
over  there.  Dare  I  speak?" 

She  began  to  watch,  with  a  sinking  heart,  the 
clear,  unflinching  eyes  of  her  mistress,  now  glowing 
in  all  the  awakened  love  of  her  satisfied  motherhood. 

"Not  yet,  not  yet,  only  at  the  very  last!"  was  the 
cowardly  woman's  decision,  as  she  crept  to  the  safety 
of  her  room.  The  French  maid's  cowardly  terror 
escaped  not  her  mistress'  eyes. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  295 

If  she  had  known  that  "Martha  Wilmot"  had 
secretly  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  was  now  hidden 
away  under  Roundsman  Daly's  charge,  that  news 
would  have  brought  Justine  at  once,  a  shivering  culprit, 
to  her  mistress'  feet.  And  now,  others  than  Vreeland 
were  playing  a  sure  and  waiting  game. 

But  the  downward  curve  was  now  slippery  under 
Harold  Vreeland's  uneasy  feet.  He  had  thrown  off 
all  his  retentive  watchfulness,  and  he  even  roughly 
repulsed  Doctor  Alberg  and  Janitor  Helms,  who 
hounded  him  to  the  apartments  at  the  Elmleaf,  where 
the  suave  Bagley  still  welcomed  his  unhappy  master. 

Brooding  there  at  night  after  the  double  life  of  his 
Wall  Street  duties,  and  his  private  plunging,  Harold 
Vreeland  at  last  formulated  a  direct  demand  upon  Sen 
ator  Garston  for  money.  He  stood  now  on  the  brink 
of  personal  ruin. 

The  market  had  gone  sadly  against  him.  Loss  on 
loss  had  swept  away  the  great  sum  which  he  had 
received  as  a  bribe,  and  his  wife's  recurrent  extrav 
agance  at  last  led  him  to  draw  the  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  of  his  salary  for  the  current  year. 

Noel  Endicott  handed  over  the  check  without  a 
word,  and  the  fact  was  soon  the  property  of  Rounds 
man  Daly.  "I'll  gather  him  in  when  that  money  is 
gone, ' '  chuckled  Daly.  ' '  He  is  near  to  the  end  of  his 
rope  now. ' ' 

"I  can  see  the  white  hand  that  is  throttling  him !" 
muttered  the  blunt  policeman.  "It's  the  mistress. 
She  will  soon  bring  him  to  his  knees,  and  maybe 
there'll  be  no  work  left  for  me  to  do,"  he  said  with  a 
professional  sigh  of  regret.  For,  he  had  set  his  heart 
on  "running  Vreeland  in."  "I'll  have  him,  dead  or 
alive,  yet, ' '  the  policeman  swore. 


296  IN  THE  SWIM. 

But  sterner  than  all  the  blows  of  Fate  was  the  blunt 
rebuff  of  Senator  Garston,  when  Vreeland,  with  burn 
ing  eyes,  demanded  a  considerable  money  advance. 

"I  gave  you  enough  money  for  four  years  at  least. 
You  have  your  own  income  down  there ;  what  the  devil 
have  you  done  with  it?" 

The  haggard  man  murmured  complaints  of  his  wife's 
extravagance.  There  was  his  whole  line  of  privately 
held  stocks  in  danger  now,  and  the  market  was  falter 
ing.  The  Senator  read  the  truth  in  his  eyes. 

"See  here,  Vreeland!"  angrily  shouted  Garston. 
"You've  been  drinking  far  too  much  of  late.  I  will 
see  that  your  wife  has  money — for  herself,  but  not  for 
you.  I  hear  that  you  are  deep  in  outside  speculations. 
If  so,  remember  the  old  remark  about  a  fool  and  his 
money. ' ' 

Harold  Vreeland  turned  without  a  word  and  left  his 
secret  enemy,  now  his  master.  "If  I  only  dared  to 
use  the  secret  of  the  document!"  he  raged,  as  he  sought 
the  hospitality  of  valet  Bagley  at  the  Elmleaf. 

There  were  days  now  when  he  did  not  go  to  the 
office  where  the  business  of  "Wyman  &  Vreeland" 
hummed  merrily  along. 

Days,  too,  when  he  did  not  return  to  Mrs.  Katharine 
Vreeland's  informal  court  at  the  Hotel  Savoy. 

"If  I  only  dared!"  he  growled.  But  then  he 
reflected  that  any  use  of  the  document  would  probably 
'  'land  him  behind  the  bars. ' ' 

He  dissembled  his  rage,  as  he  returned  late  that  night 
to  the  separate  apartments  he  now  used  at  the  Savoy. 

In  the  hall,  as  he  lay  in  a  wakeful  unrest,  he  heard 
two  servants  chattering.  "The  old  Senator  is  here  all 
the  while;  I  guess  he  is  the  real  head  of  the 
family." 


IN  THE  SWIM.  297 

And  then  the  disgraced  husband  remembered  Alida 
Hathorn's  parting  malediction:  "I  leave  it  to  the 
future  to  punish  you. ' ' 

He  arose  and  sought  the  brandy  bottle  with  uncer 
tain  steps.  For  he  realized  at  last  that  whatever  game 
the  Senator  and  his  wife  were  playing,  he  was  counted 
only  a  mere  pawn.  And,  the  game  of  Life  was  going 
against  him  now! 

His  power  had  departed  from  him,  and  before  he 
showed  his  distorted  face  next  day  on  Wall  Street  his 
line  of  private  stocks  was  sold  out  "under  the  rule," 
and  he  was  really  a  beggar — stripped  of  all  his  ill-gotten 
gains,  when  he  returned  that  night  to  face  his  wife, 
who,  richly  dressed  for  an  evening's  outing,  passed  by 
him  with  a  silent  sneer.  Truly  a  marriage  a  la  mode. 
He  was  at  bay  now! 

Vreeland  turned  into  his  own  room  with  a  muttered 
curse,  and  after  a  vicious  pull  at  the  brandy  bottle, 
rushed  out  upon  the  streets  to  wander  aimlessly  in  the 
throngs  of  the  night. 

For  he  was  chased  out  by  the  maddening  thoughts 
brought  to  his  half-crazed  mind  by  a  chance  glance  at 
the  Evening  Journal. 

"A  social  note"  of  interest  heralded  the  fact  that 
"Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Potter  had  returned  from 
Europe,  and  that  the  hospitable  VanSittart  mansion 
on  Fifth  Avenue  would  soon  be  opened  to  society  once 
more,  as  well  as  the  beautiful  old  colonial  manor  house 
of  Oakhiirst.  This  union  of  two  old  families  has 
united  hearts  as  well  as  millions,"  etc. 

' '  By  God !  I  will  not  live  in  New  York  to  have  her 
laugh  at  my  downfall ! ' '  swore  Vreeland,  as  he  raced 
along  with  his  coat  opened  to  the  chill  autumn  air. 
The  menace  of  her  curse  came  back:  "I  leave  it  to 


298  IN  THE  SWIM. 

the  future  to  punish  you!"  And  at  last,  he  was  a 
broken  and  ruined  man — a  human  wreck. 

On  this  sharp  evening  of  early  October,  Senator- 
elect  James  Garston  sat  alone,  moodily  gazing  into  the 
cheerful  wood  fire  in  his  sumptuous  room  at  the 
Plaza.  He  watched  the  bright  blaze  for  an  hour, 
until  the  hickory  billets  had  turned  into  white  ashes, 
flaking  the  tiles  at  his  feet. 

On  the  table  at  his  side  lay  an  unfinished  letter,  and 
by  the  dying  embers  the  man  who  had  the  world  at 
his  feet  groaned.  "Ashes  of  life!  The  ashes  of  a 
dead  past. " 

For,  by  the  side  of  his  last  passionate  appeal  lay  one 
or  two  tattered  letters  traced  in  a  girlish  hand. 

Garston  walked  the  floor  with  a  strong,  resounding 
tread,  as  he  went  over  every  detail  of  the  veiled  duel 
of  the  last  months. 

In  the  glass  at  either  end  of  the  room  he  saw  his 
own  strong,  resolute  face,  the  silvered  temples  framed 
in  iron-gray  hair,  his  brow  furrowed  with  the  lines  of 
care  which  neither  his  honors  nor  his  millions  could 
efface. 

On  the  table  lay  his  watch,  pocketbook  and  revolver. 
He  paused,  and  picked  up  the  heavy  Smith  &  Wesson 
aimlessly.  The  man  who  had  faced  death  in  a  hun 
dred  forms  bitterly  smiled  as  the  trigger  yielded  to  his 
practiced  finger.  There,  he  held  ready  fate  in  his  hand ! 

"Here is  either  vengeance  or  release,"  he  gloomily 
muttered.  "If  we  were  to  go  together." 

And  then  his  face  softened.  "Not  yet!  Not  yet!" 
he  murmured.  "I  shall  live  to  look  upon  my  child's 
face. " 

And  so,he  had  honestly  cast  up  the  accounts  of  his  life, 
not  sparing  himself.  He  knew  that  Elaine  Willoughby 


IN  THE  SWIM.  299 

was  now  surrounded  by  an  alert  body-gnard  of  detec 
tives;  that  her  volunteer  guardians  were  with  her 
daily.  Either  Judge  Endicott,  his  nephew  or  the 
grave-faced  Hugh  Conyers  was  always  an  inmate 
of  Lakemere  on  every  visit  she  made  to  that  lonely 
spot,  and  his  own  detectives  had  warned  him  that  a 
special  policeman  was  also  an  inmate  of  her  household, 
while  Roundsman  Dan  Daly  was  a  grand  outside 
guard.  He  dared  not  approach  her.  Could  he  lure 
her  to  his  side? 

Ignorant  of  his  wife's  secret  warfare  with  Harold 
Vreeland,  Senator  Garston  saw  in  all  these  precau 
tions  only  the  confirmation  of  her  stern  sentence  of 
banishment  from  her  presence. 

He  knew,  too,  now  of  the  practical  victory  of  her 
trip  around  the  world.  Elaine  Willoughby  had  made 
her  word  good.  The  missing  girl  had  simply  disap 
peared  !  And  he  had  been  unable  to  reach  the  girl  in 
order  to  blacken  the  mother.  He  was  powerless  now. 
All  his  craft,  backed  by  money,  had  been  met  and 
vanquished. 

When  he  had  paid  off  all  his  detectives  in  a  sullen 
despair,  the  Chief  of  the  "Inquiry  Bureau"  had  admir 
ingly  remarked:  "Your  enemy  has  certainly  handled 
herself  superbly,  Senator." 

' '  Force  is  of  no  use.  She  has  been  guided  by  some 
matchless  intellect.  We  easily  traced  the  girl  over 
to  Dresden. 

"There  she  became  an  inmate  of  a  private  Klinik, 
which,  bowered  in  gardens  and  surrounded  with  stone 
walls,  is  guarded  like  the  Kaiser's  palace. 

1 '  Fortified  by  the  stern  German  laws,  the  Doctor  in 
charge  would  be  able  to  resist  anything  but  a  criminal 
warrant.  He  owns  the  property  used  by  the  Klinik. 


300  IN  THE  SWIM. 

And  so  far  as  we  know  the  two  women  have  never 
met.  Mrs.  Willoughby  turned  up  first  in  Vienna,  but 
we  lost  her  at  Port  Said.  God  knows  where  she  was 
in  those  two  months. 

"The  girl  went  into  the  Klinik  and  never  emerged; 
that  is  our  final  report.  You  know  what  your  orders 
were — no  scandal,  no  publicity.  We  tried  to  get  an 
agent  into  the  establishment.  Ah!  Useless!  It  is  a 
close  corporation. ' ' 

The  Senator  on  this  lonely  night  was  happy  that  he 
had  only  divulged  to  his  agents  his  desire  to  find  the 
girl  for  reasons  of  an  old,  bitter  intrigue  about  her 
property  interests. 

Too  well  he  knew  that  Margaret  Cranstoun's  clear 
voice,  if  once  lifted  to  tell  the  story  of  his  past,  would 
damn  him  forever.  The  toga  would  then  be  but  a 
public  badge  of  shame.  And  so,  fear  stayed  his  strong 
hand. 

And  a  hundred  vain  solutions  of  the  enigma  had 
haunted  his  fancy,  for  he  himself  felt  assured  that  the 
women  had  met  in  Europe,  and  that  his  daughter  was 
now  lost  to  him  forever. 

Hegroaned  ashepondered  over  the  sweet  face  smiling 
up  from  the  dearly  bought  picture.  His  sentence  of  a 
living  death  weighed  heavily  upon  him  now.  The 
daughter  whom  he  yearned  for  would  perhaps  never 
call  him  "Father!" 

' '  By  Heavens ! "  he  cried,  in  his  anguish.  ' '  Margaret 
may  have  the  power  to  hold  herself  aloof  from  me. 
I  have  lost  all  my  rights  to  her.  There  is  the  past  to 
face.  She  is  right  as  to  herself,  but,  the  child! 
Nature's  laws,  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  give  me  the 
right  to  a  hearing.  It  is  for  my  child  alone  to  forgive 
or  to  condemn  her  father.  And,  I  could  atone !  She 


IN  THE  SWIM.  301 

could  have  all — an  honored  name,  a  solid  fortune,  and 
a  repentant  man's  blessing.  'Only  to  hear  her  voice, 
only  to  see  her  face, '  "  and  he  broke  into  bitter  sobs. 
For  he  dared  not  deceive  his  hungry  heart.  He  was 
wretched,  lonely  and  repentant. 

The  wretched  man  little  knew  how  ably  Roper  had 
fulfilled  his  trust  as  personal  guard,  how  wisely  Sara* 
Conyers  had  concerted  her  measures. 

Secretly  smuggled  away  at  night  from  the  Dresden 
Klinik,  Romaine  Garland  had  been  transported  to 
Copenhagen  in  a  private  car,  and,  on  beautiful  Lake 
Malar,  near  stately  Stockholm,  an  old  chateau,  now  a 
secluded  sanitarium,  had  given  its  welcome  shelter  to 
the  three  travelers.  Judge  Endicott's  all-seeing  eye 
followed  their  every  movement,  and  Roper  had  nobly 
upheld  his  trust. 

The  heart-hungry  mother,  hastening  from  Port  Said 
to  Odessa,  and  thence  to  St.  Petersburg,  had  crossed 
the  Baltic  to  Stockholm,  and  then,  while  the  baffled 
detectives  were  still  watching  in  Dresden,  had  clasped 
to  her  heart  the  girl  whom  the  lame  secretary's  chance 
affection  had  given  back  to  her. 

And  what  a  delicious  apprenticeship  in  motherhood 
was  opened  to  the  loving  woman !  A  fairy  heaven ! 

There,  by  the  blue  waves  of  Lake  Malar,  the  mother 
learned  of  Alva  Whiting's  peaceful  girlhood  days 
in  western  New  York.  How  those  who  had  given  her 
a  home  had  died  leaving  her  their  honest  name  and  a 
legacy  of  love  in  the  technical  education  which  had 
fitted  her  to  gain  a  living.  And  then,  came  the  ordeal! 
The  pathway  of  a  maidenly  Una  among  the  lions 
and  jackals  of  Greate^New  York  City. 

And  in  God's  mystic  providence,  the  strange  path 
which  had  led  her  to  the  temptations  of  the  great 


302  IN  THE  SWIM. 

restless  city  was  made  only  a  return  to  the  bosom  of 
the  woman  who  had  lost  her  child  in  the  shifting  of 
the  mock  philanthropic  "Home. "  And  how  fondly  the 
happy  mother  clung  to  her  wonderfully  restored  lost 
lamb! 

The  dark  shadows  which  rested  on  the  heart  of  the 
repentant  husband  threw  their  gloomy  shade  now  over 
the  heart-happy  mother.  For  the  same  fear  possessed 
them  both.  The  old  fear!  That  puerile  fear — and 
yet,  the  most  potent:  What  will  the  world  say? 
Garston  feared  the  black  record  of  his  cowardly  aban 
donment,  and  the  victorious  mother  found  that, 
though  innocent,  she  dared  not  tell  the  whole  truth. 

Innocent  at  heart,  realizing  the  only  means  to  save 
her  child  from  the  man  whom  she  secretly  feared, 
when  Elaine  Willoughby  went  back,  incognito,  to 
reappear  at  Vienna  on  her  homeward  way,  she  only 
caught  her  loving  child  to  her  breast  in  a  torrent  of 
silent  tears,  when  Romaine  Garland  murmured: 
"You  never  speak  of  my  father!" 

"Do  not  ask  me  yet,  my  darling!"  she  sobbed.  "I 
want  you  all  to  myself  now.  Ask  me  nothing  yet." 

And  though  the  Lady  of  Lakemere  had  hoodwinked 
all  of  Garston' s  spies,  though  she  had  returned 
unanswered,  the  letters  from  her  husband  sent  to  her 
by  messenger  on  her  return,  and  held  the  secret  of  his 
guilty  past  over  his  head,  she  felt  that  this  armed 
inactivity  could  not  continue  forever.  The  battle  must 
be  fought  out,  and  either  lost  or  won.  She  renewed 
her  courage. 

She  could  not  lie  to  her  child,  and  her  eyes  had 
dropped  before  the  appealing  glances  of  the  restored 
one.  A  hundred  varied  plans  were  considered  on 
that  long  ocean  return  voyage. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  303 

Too  well  she  knew  that  she  dared  not  settle  down  in 
Europe  and  leave  Harold  Vreeland's  unpunished 
crime  behind  her. 

The  secret  hidden  in  the  stolen  document  was 
momentous!  She  could  not  abandon  her  comrades 
in  their  speculations  without  vindicating  her  trust  in 
honor. 

An  option,  under  the  guarantee  of  her  faithful  syn 
dicate  friends  to  allow  "certain  persons"  to  purchase 
"certain  stocks"  at  a  fixed  valuation  was  in  that  fate 
ful  record.  Its  loss  meant  the  ruin  of  many  reputa 
tions.  Perhaps,  too,  the  crash  of  vast  fortunes. 

The  betrayal  of  a  trust  which  Alynton  had  imposed 
upon  her,  and  for  which  she  had  been  selected  by 
the  "secret  syndicate" — the  gods  of  local  finance! 
She  must  leave  the  secret  circle  with  clean  hands. 

So  far,  she  was  safe ! 

As  yet,  the  thief  had  not  dared  to  use  it.  Its  fatal 
power  was  still  veiled  from  her  dearest  foe,  James 
Garston,  the  husband  of  her  youthful  flower,  whom  all 
men  once  honored  as  Arnold  Cranstoun. 

"My  God!"  shuddered  Elaine.  "If  Garston  should 
obtain  that  document  it  would  be  my  ruin.  All  would 
believe  that  I  had  sold  their  secrets  to  others.  I  would 
be  at  his  mercy.  It  must  not  be. 

"If  he — Vreeland — can  be  trapped,  if  a  silent  sur 
render  is  safely  effected,  then  I  could  give  up  my  trust, 
leave  America,  and  seek  happiness  abroad  with 
Romaine,  my  beautiful  darling. ' ' 

But  though  she  knew  that  Harold  Vreeland  would 
dare  to  make  no  public  use  of  the  document,  though 
she  was  positive  that  fear  of  political  scandal  would 
seal  James  Garston's  lips,  she  dared  not  deny,  in  her 

lone  watches  under  the  stars,  that  the  man  whom  she 
20 


304  IN  THE  SWIM. 

had  banished  was  still  her  husband — "till  death  do  us 
part. ' ' 

And  if  Vreeland  was  the  thief,  he  could  sell  her 
to  shame  in  all  men's  eyes  if  Garston  would  shield 
him. 

She  knew  further  that  there  was  no  mercy  in  Gars- 
ton's  love-maddened  heart  now! 

And  a  bitter  thought  haunted  her  over  the  dark 
Atlantic  waters.  "My  child's  future!  She  can  not 
marry  under  the  suspicion  of  illegitimate  birth,  and 
she  shall  never  deem  her  mother  to  have  been  a  guilty 
wanton. ' ' 

Even  Judge  Endicott  and  the  chivalric  Hugh 
Conyers  knew  but  half  the  truth.  Both  had  assumed 
that  there  had  been  an  early  and  unhappy  marriage, 
and  both  only  believed  that  Elaine  Willoughby  was 
merely  fighting  for  the  custody  of  a  child  whom  they 
knew  not  to  be  of  legal  age. 

"If  they  knew  more,  I  would  either  have  to  clear 
myself  by  the  whole  truth,  or  else  be  disgraced  in 
their  eyes, ' '  she  murmured. 

And  on  the  instant  call  of  her  New  York  agents  she 
had  returned  now  to  strike  a  death  blow  to  all  Harold 
Vreeland's  criminal  schemes.  But  she  was  so  sadly 
weak  in  her  own  defenses,  against  the  laws  of  nature, 
of  God's  holy  sacrament  of  marriage,  and  the  plead 
ing  eyes  of  her  innocent  child!  And  yet  Vreeland's 
demoralization  forced  desperate  measures  upon  her 
now.  If  he  should  die  or  abscond,  then,  there  was 
ruin  to  face. 

And  on  this  night,  when  her  husband  mourned  in 
agony  over  his  forfeited  paradise  and  his  childless 
age,  the  unhappy  wife  and  mother  only  awaited  the 
moment  when  Harold  Vreeland  would  fall  into  the 


IN  THE  SWIM.  305 

snares  so  skillfully  set  for  him.  That  victory  won, 
then  she  would  bid  adieu  to  the  "Street's"  mad  ven 
tures,  her  secret  trust  once  resigned,  peace,  love  and 
happiness  awaited  her  at  Lake  Malar.  But  safety 
first,  peace  afterward.  She  felt  whither  the  under 
current  of  speculation  had  swept  her.  On  a  lee  shore ! 

"I  can  tell  Romaine  all  when  she  is  my  very  own, 
and  she  shall  choose  between  us  then,  and  judge  us 
both. 

' '  She  alone  has  the  right  to  the  truth. ' ' 

This  vow  upon  her  knees  had  quieted  Margaret 
Cranstoun's  heart,  for  she  only  now  awaited  Rounds 
man  Dan  Daly's  coming  triumph  to  summon  Senator 
Alynton. 

Once  the  document  was  honorably  out  of  her 
hands,  then  the  Queen  of  the  Street  could  abdicate, 
and  go  "far  from  the  madding  crowd,"  where  "beyond 
their  voices  there  is  peace. "  The  hour  of  loathing  her 
excited  environment  had  come  at  last. 

It  seemed  as  if  some  subtle  commune  of  spirit  had 
brought  the  long- estranged  husband  and  wife  together 
in  spirit  on  this  very  evening,  for  Margaret  Cranstoun 
dreamed  of  the  loyal  husband  of  her  youth,  when  she 
fell  asleep,  murmuring  ' '  Lead,  kindly  Light. ' '  There 
were  angels  pleading  with  them  both — angels  of  white, 
unfolded  wings.  For  the  child's  sake,  they  pleaded  for 
a  hearing. 

And  the  next  morning  she  was  shaken  at  heart,  as 
the  gusty  pines  are  thrilled  by  the  wild  winds  of  night, 
when  she  read  the  long  appeal  wrung  from  Arnold 
Cranstoun's  heart  by  the  hours  of  his  lonely  midnight 
agony.  His  agony  had  overmastered  the  proud  spirit 
at  last. 

The  deserted  wife's  tears  fell  on  the  blotted  pages 
20 


3°6  IN  THE  SWIM. 

over  which  the  strong  man  had  leaned  in  all  the  ecstasy 
of  a  last  appeal. 

He  knew  that  there  would  be  an  answer,  for  his  mes 
senger  was  bidden  to  return. 

And  all  that  day,  James  Garston  waited,  while  his 
estranged  wife  trembled  at  the  voice  of  her  own  heart, 
and  bowed  her  head  over  her  daughter's  picture  in  an 
agony  of  speechless  love.  She  dared  all  for  herself, 
but  only  to  save  the  child  of  her  hungry  heart. 

She  feared  the  fatal  sentence  of  these  awful  words  of 
Holy  Writ:  "For  the  sins  of  the  fathers  shall  be 
visited  upon  the  heads  of  the  children."  That  thought 
brought  her  to  her  knees  now,  and  she  walked  alone  in 
the  dark  valley  of  silent  sorrows. 

Brought  to  bay  by  the  wild  appeal,  the  excited  woman 
realized  that  she  dare  not  confer  with  either  Alynton, 
Endicott  or  Conyers.  The  still  unsoiled  woman -heart 
revolted  at  the  unveiling  of  all  the  sorrows  of  a  shad 
owed  life — those  secret  sorrows  which  had  haunted  her 
in  all  the  gilded  scenes  of  a  strange  prosperity,  her 
burden  carried  under  the  veil  of  secrecy — her  galling 
chain  of  secret  sorrows. 

''For  the  child's  sake!"  she  murmured,  as  she 
vainly  essayed  to  answer  her  recreant  husband's 
proposals. 

A  dozen  times  she  had  read  over  his  last  logical 
conclusion:  "If  you  and  I  are  to  respect  the 
untroubled  heart  of  the  innocent  child  whom  I  have 
never  seen,  then  we  must  leave  it  to  her  alone  to 
decide  in  the  future  as  to  whether  she  shall  go  on 
through  life  as  a  fatherless  girl. 

"You  might  be  taken  away;  I  might  pay  the 
penalty  of  nature.  What  would  become  of  our  child 
then?  Can  you  answer?  And  even  if  I  am  a  husband  no 


IN  THE  SWIM.  307 

longer,  you  have  no  power  to  decree  that  I  am  not  a 
father.  And  you  and  I  alone  can  settle  a  situation 
leading  on  to  madness  or  despair.  As  for  the  spolia 
tion  of  our  daughter,  I  will  prevent  that,  but  is  that 
all? — answer  me,  for  God's  sake — is  that  all  of  life? — 
the  mere  money  provision?  Dare  you  say  it  is?" 

Elaine  Willoughby  recognized  at  once  his  coldly 
practical  mind  in  the  propositions. 

"For  all  our  sakes, "  he  pleaded,  "I  will  die  to  the 
world  as  Arnold  Cranstoun,  if  you  agree ;  and  I  swear 
before  God,  that  if  you  agree  that  I  will  only 
approach  Romaine  Garland  as  a  stranger,  unless  in 
later  years  you  may  lift  the  ban.  For  never  lived 
man  or  woman  who  could  foretell  the  future  workings 
of  the  chainless  human  heart.  Let  us  make  some 
joint  provision  for  her  future  safety.  In  God's  name 
— for  the  child's  sake."  His  words  echoed  in  her 
heart,  and  not  in  vain. 

A  meeting  at  the  Hotel  Belgravia  in  a  week 's  time 
was  the  proposal. 

A  family  friend  of  Senator  Garston  's  had  placed  his 
apartments  at  the  husband's  disposal.  "We  are 
neither  of  us  known  there ;  you  can  previously  enter  the 
hotel  and  observe  the  rooms. 

"In  the  evening  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  day  you 
select,  I  will  be  at  the  door,  and  you  can  close  the 
sorrows  of  a  whole  life,  in  a  half -hour  given  up  to 
mercy." 

"For  the  child's  sake,  be  it  so!"  she  cried  as  she 
read  over  the  proposal  once  more. 

Her  task  was  to  bring  every  letter  and  relic  of 
their  married  days  and  to  witness  their  destruction. 

"Then  our  child  can  never  be  shadowed  by  my 
guilty  past,"  his  hand  had  traced. 


308  IN  THE  SWIM. 

•  "I  am  sure  of  your  silence.  I  will  go  on  undis- 
graced  to  the  end  of  my  career.  I  will  cease  to  pursue 
you  and  her. 

"I  am  to  give  you  the  receipt  of  the  International 
Trust  Company  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  of  United  States  bonds,  registered  in  the 
name  of  Romaine  Garland. 

"And  I  am  to  leave  her  in  my  will  one-half  of  all 
my  property.  There  is  then  to  be  silence — oblivion ; 
for  me  repentance,  for  you  peace,  and  so,  for  her  in 
time,  the  enjoyment  of  her  own. 

"Should  she  learn  from  you  in  later  years  that 
James  Garston  was  her  father,  there  will  at  least  be 
no  cloud  upon  her  name,  and  I  leave  the  key  of  the 
future  in  your  hands. 

"This  I  would  guarantee  before  either  of  the  three 
men  whom  you  trust;  but,  I  implore  peace  and 
silence,  for  the  child's  sake. 

"Our  only  guarantee  in  this  interview  of  good  faith 
is  the  one  unbroken  tie  between  us,  the  child  whom  I 
have  never  seen." 

It  was  late  in  the  day  when  James  Garston  read  the 
lines  traced  by  the  hand  which  had  once  trembled 
lovingly  in  his  own. 

"I  will  come!  I  will  trust  to  you  once  more,  under 
the  protection  of  the  memories  of  all  my  sorrows,  but 
only  for  the  child's  sake.  Our  past  is  dead.  Let  us 
place  the  seal  of  silence  upon  its  tomb.  I  will  do  as 
you  bid  me." 

There  was  a  strange  light  in  Senator  Garston 's  face 
as  he  hurried  out  of  the  Plaza  Hotel,  and  when  in  the 
corridor,  he  met  Harold  Vreeland,  he  wrested  himself 
from  that  desperate  gamester's  clutches.  He  dared 
not  break  away  from  the  haggard  outcast.  There  was 


IN  THE  SWIM.  309 

the  meeting  with  Elaine — the  one  aim  now  of  his 
awakened  soul. 

"Come  into  the  writing-room,"  said  the  Senator, 
after  he  had  heard  an  appeal  which  caused  him  to  fear 
that  the  man's  mind  was  wavering. 

"Remember,  sir,"  sternly  said  the  Western  mil 
lionaire,  "I  know  where  the  money  is  going.  And  it 
is  the  very  last  dollar  of  mine  that  you  will  ever  see. 
Your  wife" — Garston  stopped,  shamefaced,  for  the 
shadow  of  a  darling  sin  now  rose  up  between  him 
and  the  new-born  hope  of  meeting  his  own  child  in 
the  coming  years. 

The  spell  of  Margaret  Cranstoun  was  strong  upon 
him  now.  "I  can  atone ;  Katharine  shall  not  live  to  suf 
fer  poverty, ' '  he  groaned,  as  Vreeland  sped  away  with 
a  check  for  forty  thousand  dollars.  And  so,  a  manly 
throb  of  remorse  made  him  generous  to  Katharine 
Norreys'  hoodwinked  husband. 

The  rain  was  falling  in  torrents  when  the  hooded 
form  of  a  stately  woman  descended  at  the  Hotel  Bel- 
gravia  on  a  storm-darkened  night  a  week  later.  The 
drenched  cabman  wondered  at  the  hurried  liberality 
of  his  fare,  and  then  hastened  away  far  beyond  the 
row  of  blinking  lights. 

Up  the  stairway  to  the  first  story,  the  visitor  sped 
with  no  uncertain  foot,  the  "parlor  watch"  noticing 
with  surprise  the  white  robes  beneath  the  lady's 
shrouding  cloakings.  For  it  was  a  fearful  night  with 
out;  those  festal  robes  were  but  a  mockery  in  the 
storm-lashed  darkness. 

"One  of  our  regulars  caught  out  in  this  squall," 
sleepily  muttered  the  waiter,  resuming  his  novel. 

Onward,  guided  by  a  surely  retentive  memory,    the 


310  IN  THE  SWIM. 

woman  sped  through  the  halls,  and  pressed  her  hand 
upon  a  doorknob  which  yielded  to  her  touch. 

The  door  was  quickly  closed,  and  there,  surrounded 
by  all  the  belongings  of  a  happy  family  circle,  the 
long  sundered  foes  met  in  silence  before  a  cheerful 
fire  which  blazed  upon  the  hearth. 

In  James  Garston's  startled  eyes  there  was  an 
expression  of  wondering  mystery.  For  with  a  woman's 
self -protective  instinct,  his  estranged  wife  had  eluded 
her  household  at  the  "Circassia,"  and  stolen  away 
from  the  dinner  circle,  robed  in  a  costume  of  stainless 
white. 

Down  the  deserted  side  stairway,  she  had  fled, 
swathed  in  secretly  purchased  storm  wrappings  such 
as  a  woman  of  the  people  might  wear.  And  now,  she 
looked  strangely  young  and  fair  as  he  sprang  toward 
her.  She  had  not  been  recognized  by  the  hotel 
attaches ;  no  one  had  seen  her  leave  the  ' '  Circassia. ' ' 

And  neither  Justine,  the  watchful,  nor  the  amanu 
ensis  knew — not  even  the  butler  detective — that  their 
mistress  had  gone  forth  in  the  storm,  her  own  apart 
ment  doors  being  locked.  She  had  victoriously  passed 
all  the  dangers  which  she  feared.  A  wild  haste  now 
possessed  her ;  only  to  be  safe  at  home  again ! 

In  silence  Elaine  Willoughby  placed  a  bundle  upon 
the  table,  and  then,  the  eyes  of  the  unhappy  couple  met. 

"It  is  all  there — everything,"  faltered  Margaret 
Cranstoun.  "Hasten,  for  I  must  save  myself;  I  can 
not  linger.  This  visit  must  be  kept  a  secret  from  all, 
for  the  child's  sake.  Examine  and  destroy  them!" 

There  was  that  in  her  eyes  which  compelled  obedi 
ence,  and  the  beautiful  woman  stood  clutching  at  a 
table,  as  Garston,  with  a  mighty  effort  at  self-control, 
glancing  rapidly  at  each  faded  token,  cast  them  one 


IN  THE  SWIM.  311 

by  one  into  the  fire.     Ashes  of  life,  "dead  fruits  of  the 
fugitive  years!" 

The  flames  merrily  leaped  up,  and  without  the  wild 
storm  lashed  the  window-panes.  In  a  few  moments, 
the  work  of  destruction  was  complete. 

Margaret  Cranstoun  started  back  as  her  husband 
faced  her,  for  some  overmastering  emotion  now 
quickly  convulsed  his  strong  face.  A  strange  fear 
palsied  her  tongue.  She  had  never  seen  that  ashen 
look  upon  his  strong  face  in  life  before. 

"There  is  the  Trust  Company's  receipt,"  he  said, 
speaking  as  if  in  a  dream,  while  his  eyes  roved  over 
her  loveliness,  as  she  stood  there  with  her  trembling 
hands  clasped  on  her  heaving  bosom.  A  woman  to 
draw  men  to  her  feet — a  throbbing,  passionate,  love- 
haunted  queen — the  apotheosis  of  love! 

"Do  you  agree  to  my  proposition  about  my  will?" 
the  Senator  slowly  said;  "and  I  may  at  some  future 
day  hope  to  see — " 

He  paused  abruptly,  for  Margaret  Cranstoun  reeled. 
Her  strength  was  failing;  there  were  strange  shadows 
in  the  room ;  the  fitful  fire  glared  in  weird  flashes ! 

"Let  me  go!  Let  me  go!"  she  cried.  "You  can 
write  to  me  as  before." 

"I  must  go!" 

For  there  were  strange  shadows  gathering  on  his 
convulsed  face. 

She  turned  as  if  to  flee.  Her  husband  was  too 
quick  for  her. 

With  a  single  bound  he  reached  the  door  and 
locked  it. 

"Margaret!"  he  wildly  cried,  as  he  crushed  her  to 
his  breast,  "the  past  is  dead.  Its  record  lies  there, 
ashes  to  ashes — the  ashes  of  a  dead  life! 


312  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"Let  me  live!     Let  us  go  on  to  the  end  together. 

"No  one  would  know.  If  we  were  married  now, 
in  due  form,  the  silence  of  the  past  would  be  unbroken. 
It  is  my  last  prayer.  Forgive!" 

The  frightened  woman  was  struggling  in  his  relent 
less  grasp,  as  he  pleaded  "for  the  child's  sake!" 

She  made  one  last  despairing  effort  to  break  his 
frenzied  hold  upon  her,  but  she  stood  there  helpless 
and  transfixed  in  horror,  as  his  arms  relaxed  and  he 
suddenly  sank  at  her  feet,  lying  there  prone  upon  the 
tapestried  floor.  The  Dark  Angel's  wings  had 
touched  his  pallid  brow. 

The  shriek  of  horror  was  frozen  on  her  lips  by  a 
sudden  fear,  and  then  grasping  at  her  draperies,  she 
fled  away  through  the  open  door  of  the  next  apart 
ment.  She  dared  not  glance  behind  her,  for  death 
was  there! 

Now,  between  her  and  that  locked  door  lay  the 
nameless  thing  which  was  but  now  a  strong  man,  the 
peer  of  kings!  The  despairing  lover  who  had  died 
with  the  last  frenzied  words  of  reawakened  tenderness 
upon  his  lips !  The  husband  of  her  youth ! 

The  majesty  of  Death  had  entered  unannounced,  and 
that  night,  in  far-away  Sweden,  Romaine  Garland, 
praying  for  the  mother  whom  she  had  recovered  from 
Shadowland,  stirred  in  the  sleep  of  maidenhood  to 
murmur,  "My  father!"  For  in  the  vast  empyrean 
James  Garston  had  found  his  child — at  last ! 

A  glance  showed  to  the  entrapped  woman  a  stout 
partition  wall  leading  from  a  window  opened  into  a 
side  court  to  the  long  hotel  corridor  on  the  other  side. 

Spurred  on  by  a  blind  impulse  of  self-protection, 
Elaine  Willoughby  sprang  lightly  across  the  dividing 


IN  THE  SWIM.  313 

wall  and  raised  the  window  on  the  other  side  of  the 
covered  court. 

There  was  no  one  in  the  silent  corridor.  Her 
beating  heart  told  her  that  here  was  safety. 

It  was  but  the  work  of  a  moment  to  cast  her  cloak 
around  her,  and  a  side  entrance  offered  her  an  unob 
served  descent  to  the  level  of  the  street. 

"If  that  door  should  be  locked!"  was  her  heart's 
wild  alarm. 

But  no,  it  yielded,  and  then  with  a  swift  step  she 
sped  along  in  the  storm,  not  daring  to  look  behind 
her  in  the  night ! 

The  rains  of  heaven  had  cooled  her  brow  as  she 
halted  far  away  before  a  row  of  carriages  standing 
before  a  theater.  The  sleepy  driver  only  growled 
"All  right,"  as  he  heard  the  words  "Central  Park 
West." 

He  never  knew  that  the  half -fainting  woman  who 
stopped  him  on  a  corner  twenty  minutes  later,  was  the 
one  possessor  of  a  mystery  which  was  the  sensation  of 
the  whole  city  next  morning. 

"Women  are  queer  creatures!"  babbled  the  sleepy 
driver,  as  he  sought  the  nearest  saloon,  while  his 
fare  disappeared  under  the  gloomy  darkness  of  the 
walls  of  the  "Circassia.  " 

"Now  what  business  could  take  a  decent  woman 
out  a  night  like  this?"  But  he  had  substantial  cause 
for  rejoicing,  and  he  blessed  her  on  her  way.  For 
she  paid  him  the  price  of  a  life — all  unknown  to  his 
gratified  cupidity. 

There  was  silence  in  the  halls  of  the  "Circassia"  as 
Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby  swept  down  the  corridors 
now  draped  only  in  her  white  dinner  dress.  The 
dark  wraps,  cast  away  on  the  servants'  stairway,  told 


314  IN  THE  SWIM. 

no  story  of  the  undetected  outing,  and,  with  a  trem 
bling  hand,  the  frightened  woman  opened  the  side 
door  of  the  Pearl  boudoir. 

An  hour  later  there  was  hurrying  to  and  fro  in  her 
household.  "It  is  one  of  Madame's  old  attacks," 
Justine  explained  to  Doctor  Anderson,  hastily  sum 
moned  by  the  private  secretary. 

For  after  instinctively  hiding  away  the  document 
thrust  into  her  bosom,  the  paper  which  gave  to 
fatherless  Romaine  Garland  a  fortune,  Elaine  Wil- 
loughby  had  fainted  away,  with  her  hand  upon  the 
bell,  as  she  mechanically  summoned  help  in  the  hour 
of  her  agony.  And  the  price  of  her  safety  was  a  near 
approach  to  the  grave ! 

On  the  next  morning  the  journals  of  fifty  cities 
told  millions  of  readers  of  the  sudden  death  of  the 
Western  magnate,  Senator  James  Garston,  and  the 
various  political  cabals  were  busied  with  selecting 
his  successor.  Death  had  robbed  him  of  the  civic 
crown,  and  a  stately  head  was  lying  low. 

Senator  Alynton,  while  hurrying  from  Washington 
to  New  York  on  business,  read  all  the  details  of  the 
attack  of  heart  failure  which  had  cut  off  the  strong 
man  in  the  flower  of  his  life. 

"This  is  a  serious  business,"  he  murmured,  but  his 
impassive  face  never  showed  his  secret  solicitude  lest 
the  papers  of  the  dead  man  might  expose  the  opera 
tions  of  a  syndicate  "for  revenue  only."  He  wore 
the  impassive  mask  of  the  millionaire  politician. 

There  was  the  look  of  a  wild  despair  in  Katharine 
Vreeland's  eyes  when  she  awakened  her  heavy-eyed 
husband  from  the  sleep  of  exhaustion  the  next 
morning. 

"Get  up!"  she  sternly  said. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  315 

"Here  is  news  to  frighten  even  you  into  being  a 
man  for  a  day.  Senator  Garston  died  last  night  of 
heart  disease  at  the  Hotel  Belgravia. " 

' '  Good  God !     We  are  ruined ! ' '  cried  Vreeland. 

"For  all  your  fortune  was  in  his  hands.  You  have 
not  a  scrap  of  paper  to  show  for  it. ' ' 

"What  do  I  care  for  the  money!"  she  sobbed.  "I 
am  alone  in  the  world  now. ' ' 


316  IN  THE  SWIM. 

CHAPTER     XV. 
IN  THE  DARK  WATERS. 

Senator  David  Alynton's  first  duty  on  reaching  the 
Hotel  Belgravia  was  to  hold  a  private  conference  with 
the  confidential  friend  in  whose  rooms  the  Senator- 
elect  had  so  strangely  died.  The  body  of  the  dead 
millionaire  had  been  removed  at  once  to  his  own  per 
sonal  apartments  at  the  Hotel  Plaza,  where  the  travel 
ers  found  assembled  Garston's  lawyer,  his  physician, 
with  his  body  servant.  The  private  secretary  was  in 
charge,  under  the  superintendence  of  a  cool  repre 
sentative  of  the  International  Trust  Company. 

It  touched  Alynton  to  the  heart,  this  lonely  death 
chamber;  for  it  seemed  that  "there  was  no  one  left 
to  mourn  for  Logan. ' ' 

It  is  true  that  Mrs.  Katharine  Vreeland,  in  deepest 
black,  was  kneeling  silently  there  at  the  foot  of  the 
coffin,  ostentatiously  supported  by  Mrs.  Volney 
McMorris,  whose  social  splendors  were  judiciously 
darkened  for  the  time  being  by  bits  of  crepe,  like 
the  veiling  of  the  "bright  work"  on  a  fire  engine  at 
an  old  Volunteer  Department  funeral. 

"Are  there  no  near  family  relatives?"  asked  Alynton, 
in  a  muffled  voice,  as  he  gazed  upon  the  majestic 
frame  of  the  man  who  had  fought  himself  up  from 
disgrace  to  the  Tantalus  cup  of  triumph.  It  seemed 
a  dreary,  a  lonely,  an  unwept  taking-off ! 

"It  seems  not,"  guardedly  answered  the  Trust 
Company's  factotum.  "We  have  his  will  in  charge. 
The  young  lady  kneeling  there  will  be  a  large  bene- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  317 

ficiary,  and  besides  her,  there  is  only  one  other  legatee, 
who  it  seems  is  a  ward  of  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby, 
the  great  woman  stock  operator. ' ' 

Senator  Alynton  started  in  surprise.  "As  the  late 
Mr.  Garston  was  only  a  Senator-elect,  I  presume  there 
will  be  no  Governmental  notice  taken  of  his  decease. 

"We  look,  therefore,  to  you,  Senator  Alynton,  to 
Mr.  Haygood  Apchurch,  his  old  friend  (in  whose 
rooms  he  died)  and  to  these  two  interested  young 
women  beneficiaries,  for  all  directions  as  to  the 
funeral." 

"That  is,"  hastily  added  the  Trust  Company's 
Cerberus,  "if  no  swarm  of  hungry  relatives,  no  dupli 
cate  wives  nor  mysterious  claimants  turn  up  when  the 
Associated  Press  dispatches  have  been  read  all  over 
America. 

' '  Such  things  have  happened  before. ' ' 

"It  seems  strange,"  mused  Alynton,  after  giving  a 
few  brief  directions,  "that  such  a  man  lived  and  died 
entirely  unloved." 

But  goaded  on  by  self-interest,  he  hastened  away 
to  the  "Circassia,"  after  vainly  telephoning  all  over 
New  York  for  Harold  Vreeland.  The  "rising  star" 
was  in  a  dark  eclipse ! 

At  the  Hotel  Savoy,  the  suave  head  clerk,  with  a 
sigh,  admitted  that  the  young  banker's  habits  were 
now  very  "irregular." 

"He  has  not  been  seen  to-day.  He  went  out  very 
early,"  was  the  clerk's  report,  and  he  vaguely  indicated 
Vreeland's  principal  operations  with  an  upward  sweep 
of  his  lily-white  hand. 

The  clerk  was  a  purist  in  manner,  and  only  begin 
ning  himself  to  drink  secretly.  He  was  not  yet  in  the 
dark  waters! 


3i8  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Senator  Alynton  found  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby 
strictly  denied  to  all  visitors.  It  was  to  the  clear- 
eyed  cripple  that  he  gravely  handed  his  card. 

"Please  say  to  Mrs.  Willoughby  that  I  must  see  her 
before  Senator  Garston's  funeral.  I  am  at  the  Wal 
dorf,  and  will  come  at  once  on  her  summons." 

On  his  way  to  the  Belgravia,  Senator  Alynton  read 
the  "copious  accounts"  in  the  leading  journals.  The 
case  seemed  to  be  a  clear  one.  The  newspapers  con 
firmed  Mr.  Haygood  Apchurch's  statement  that  the 
dead  millionaire  had  borrowed  his  friend's  apartments 
to  use  a  couple  of  weeks  in  briefing  up  a  great  speech 
upon  "the  financial  situation."  A  speech  destined 
never  to  be  delivered! 

In  fact,  some  of  the  drafts  of  the  future  master 
piece,  and  the  usual  personal  contents  of  a  rich  man's 
pocketbook  were  the  only  papers  found  in  the  rooms. 
There  was  not  even  the  foundation  stone  of  a  mystery. 

The  checks,  railway  passes,  club  cards,  etc..  were 
not  accompanied  by  a  single  family  paper. 

It  was  "justly  remarked  by  all  that  the  country  had 
sustained  a  great  loss  in  the  counsels  of  so  dis 
tinguished  and  successful  a  Western  money  magnate 
as  James  Garston,"  etc.,  in  the  usual  vein. 

Alynton  glanced  over  the  platitudes  as  to  being 
"cutoff  in  his  prime,"  the  usual  references,  de  rigueur, 
to  the  "zenith  of  his  powers,"  and  his  being  a  man 
of  "an  already  national  reputation" — the  lightly  tossed 
journalistic  wreath  of  immortelles! 

One  or  two  daring  writers  had  timidly  referred  to 
the  long  fight  which  had  raised  the  deceased  from  a 
working  Western  low-grade  lawyer  in  a  mining  town 
to  a  money  power  in  the  financial  centers  of  the  East 
and  West. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  319 

"That  no  immediate  family  falls  heir  to  the  honor 
able  record  of  the  departed  is  an  element  of  sadness 
crowning  a  lonely  career,  embittered  by  many  hard 
struggles  with  fate. ' ' 

Such  perfunctory  phrases  covered  the  gap  between 
the  unknown  past  of  the  "man  who  had  arrived"  and 
the  lonely  splendor  of  his  final  elevation. 

After  Alynton  had  satisfied  himself  that  Mr. 
Haygood  Apchurch  knew  nothing  whatever  of  Gars- 
ton's  past,  the  distinguished  member  of  the  secret 
syndicate  drove  rapidly  down  to  Judge  Hiram  Endi- 
cott's  office. 

His  mind  was  now  agitated  with  fears  of  the  future 
of  the  sugar  speculating  syndicate  of  a  "few  friends." 

In  his  feverish  haste  to  make  the  living  safe  he  had 
already  forgotten  the  unloved  dead  man.  He  had 
not  disturbed  the  silent  grief  of  the  repentant  woman 
who  bent  over  the  pale  silent  lips  now  sealed  in  death. 

The  eyes  were  sightless  now  which  had  thrilled 
their  unspoken  messages  into  her  very  soul. 

And  the  stormy  heart  of  James  Garston  was  as  cold 
and  pulseless  as  the  marble  wherein  the  tenantless 
shell  would  soon  lie  in  the  long  rest. 

Suddenly  Katharine  Vreeland  threw  up  her  arms 
and  fell  at  the  feet  of  her  woman  friend,  wildly  sob 
bing— 

"There  lies  the  only  heart  in  God's  world  that  ever 
beat  for  me!" 

"Ah!  Some  one  loved  him  after  all, "mused  the 
Trust  Company's  financial  representative.  "She 
deserves  her  good  fortune.  I  wonder  does  she  know  of 
the  other  one  ? "  His  mind  was  busied  with  curious  con 
jectures  as  to  the  source  of  the  dead  man's  generosity. 

But  the  gates  of  the  past  were  swung  forever.     The 

*-  i 


320  IN  THE  SWIM. 

trembling  heart  of  the  "Western  heiress"  held  a  secret 
that  was  now  sealed  behind  the  mask  of  Garston's 
waxen  face. 

For  the  strong  man,  loyal  in  his  darling  sin,  was 
true  as  steel  to  the  last,  and  the  hidden  crime  of  two 
lives  "left  no  dark  plume  as  a  token." 

Alynton,  closeted  with  Judge  Endicott,  was  now 
urgent  in  his  demand  that  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby 
should  at  once  erase  the  name  of  the  dead  Senator 
from  the  dangerous  document  held  by  her  in  a  mys 
terious  trust.  "That  document  must  never  see  the 
light."  It  must  be  destroyed  at  once,  and  a  new 
"round  robin"  signed. 

"It  will  have  to  be  surrendered  now,  and  a  new 
one  made, "  anxiously  said  the  excited  millionaire. 

"We  owe  safety  to  our  living  associates,  and  perfect 
faith  to  our  allied  friends  of  the  Sugar  Syndicate." 

"Perhaps  as  Mrs.  Willoughby  was  a  close  friend  of 
Garston's  she  may  know  some  of  the  details  of  his  early 
life.  I  wish  that  you  would  have  her  guide  me.  Go 
and  see  her.  I  am  in  practical  charge  of  the  funeral, 
and  so  shall  be  very  busy. ' ' 

"What  can  she  know?"  demanded  the  old  lawyer. 

"I'm  told  by  the  Trust  Company's  man  that  he  has 
left  half  of  his  great  fortune  to  a  young  ward  of  Mrs. 
Willoughby's — some  young  girl.  "  There  was  a  tink 
ling  sound  of  breakage. 

Alynton  gazed  curiously  at  the  old  Judge  as  he 
slowly  picked  up  the  fragments  of  his  shattered  eye 
glasses. 

"You  are  right.  Do  nothing  till  you  hear  from  me. 
I  will  go  to  her,  and  come  to  you  at  the  Waldorf,"  said 
the  startled  lawyer.  "She  should  know  of  this  at 
once. " 


IN  THE  SWIM.  321 

"Thank  God!  He  knows  nothing  of  Garston's  mad 
pursuit  of  Elaine  in  marriage  and  his  schemes  about 
her  child.  He  even  thinks  them  friends.  Better  so. 
But,  the  girl  must  return  at  once.  Death  has  made 
her  way  smooth."  And  Endicott  went  sighing  on 
his  way. 

Telephoning  for  Hugh  Conyers,  the  old  advocate 
hastened  to  the  "Circassia"  to  a  conference  with  the 
white-faced  invalid  who  burst  into  a  storm  of  tears 
when  Endicott  told  her  the  story  of  the  strange  legacy. 

"Let  Hugh  cable  at  once  to  Stockholm.  Have 
them  come  back  here  by  Havre,  without  a  mo 
ment's  delay.  Let  him  sign  all  three  of  our  names, 
and  let  him  also  send  a  separate  cable  to  Sara  that 
Romaine  is  to  know  nothing  of  the  death,  and  not  a 
word  as  yet,  of  this  strange  legacy.  I  will  inform  her 
of  that  myself,"  she  sobbed.  "It  is  all  so  strange,  so 
ghastly, ' '  she  murmured. 

The  self -protective  instinct  of  the  mother  brought 
to  her  a  new  life.  ' '  No  one  knows ;  no  one  even  sus 
pects.  There  is  not  a  single  whisper.  Thank  God!" 
And  then  she  vowed  on  her  knees,  when  left  alone,  to 
be  brave  and  true  for  the  child's  sake. 

And  Hiram  Endicott  respected  her  imperial  grief. 
When  he  returned  from  dispatching  Conyers  to  recall 
the  fatherless  child,  he  mused:  "It  is  better  that  I 
should  know  nothing  more,  for  there  is  a  strange 
tangle  here." 

And  so  he  was  not  astonished  when  his  client  bade 
him  come  back  to  her  on  the  morrow  to  escort  her  to 
the  room  of  Garston's  last  solemn  public  reception. 

"I  must  see  him  again  for  Romaine' s  sake.  I  must 
look  once  more  upon  the  face  of  the  father  of  my 
child,"  was  the  solemn  voice  of  Nature  sweeping  away 


322  IN  THE  SWIM. 

all  the  meshes  of  the  frail  barrier  of  human  hatred 
which  had  held  them  apart. 

' '  God  is  merciful, ' '  she  murmured.  ' '  Romaine  shall 
never  know,  and  only  learn  to  wonder  over  the  bene 
faction  of  an  unknown  but  generous  hand. 

1  'And  now,  his  public  name,  his  barren  honors  can 
never  be  soiled  by  man's  cold  sneer.  It  is  the  blessed 
nepenthe  of  the  silent  grave. " 

Elaine  Willoughby  was  recalled  to  a  need  of  stern 
and  instant  action  by  Endicott's  demand  for  the  docu 
ment,  the  vastly  dangerous  paper  whose  existence  now 
alarmed  Senator  Alynton.  And  all  alert,  she  bade 
her  schoolboy  servitor  summon  Roundsman  Daly 
instantly. 

"I  must  forego  my  full  vengeance  on  Vreeland,"  she 
murmured,  "to  save  my  friends.  The  paper  once 
regained,  I  can  leave  the  Street  forever,  but  Vree- 
land's  silence  must  be  first  assured.  It  is  better  to 
steal  it  from  its  hiding-place,  and  not  wait  to  trap  him 
there. " 

She  was  keenly  suspicious  of  Justine  Duprez,  who, 
hollow-eyed  and  half -defiant,  now  demanded  an 
absence  of  a  few  days  on  urgent  private  affairs.  The 
girl's  burning  fever  of  fear  for  her  lover  was  almost 
an  ecstasy  of  jealous  agony.  She  feared  a  coming 
storm. 

With  a  single  touch  of  the  bell,  the  Lady  of  Lake- 
mere  called  in  the  private  detective.  "Detain  that 
woman  here,  even  by  the  strongest  use  of  force,  till 
Roundsman  Daly  comes,"  she  said,  with  flashing 
eyes. 

"She  is  dangerous.  Remember!  force  if  needed. 
And,  do  not  lose  her  from  your  sight  an  instant." 

In  ten  minutes,  Daly,  with  a  strange  light  of  battle  in 


IN  THE  SWIM.  323 

his  eyes,  stood  before  Mrs.  Willoughby.  "It  is  now  just 
the  time  to  spring  the  trap!"  he  said.  "I  have  two 
men  steadily  on  watch  down  in  South  Fifth  Avenue. 
Vreeland  has  been  lurking  around  here  to  warn  Jus 
tine  to  meet  him  at  once.  He  intends,  I  am  sure,  to 
leave  the  country,  for  I  have  already  arrested  Helms 
and  the  letter-carrier,  Mulholland.  You  must  act, 
and  at  once,  or  you  will  lose  the  bird. ' ' 

"Then,"  cried  Elaine  Willoughby,  turning  ashen 
in  her  heart-sinking,  "hasten  to  the  rooms  yourself. 
Arrest  him!  Get  the  paper!  It  must  come  to  me 
alone,  whatever  happens — remember  that.  There  is 
human  life,  public  honor  and  the  happiness  of  inno 
cent  hearts  all  hanging  on  your  success.  For  God's 
sake,  hasten!  Bring  me  that  paper!"  A  ferocious 
joy  gleamed  in  Daly's  eyes. 

He  felt  for  his  Colt's  police  pistol  and  his  steel 
handcuffs. 

"Hold  the  Frenchwoman  tightly.  Lock  her  up  by 
force!  I  will  be  here  in  an  hour,  and  the  paper 
shall  reach  no  one's  eyes  but  mine. 

"But  as  to  Justine,  let  Dobson  arrest  her,  and  hand 
cuff  her.  Give  her  a  good  frightening,  but  watch  her 
that  she  does  herself  no  harm. ' ' 

As  Daly  stole  down  the  side  stairs  of  the  "Cir- 
cassia,"  there  was  a  muffled  scream  as  the  handcuffs 
closed  on  the  plump  wrists  of  Justine  Duprez.  It 
was  the  beginning  of  the  end,  and  Harold  Vreeland 
had  lost  his  last  friend.  He  was  in  the  jaws  of  Fate 
now. 

4  'Dobson  has  made  sure.  Now  for  my  man,  and  to 
pay  off  old  scores!"  cried  Dan  Daly,  as  he  sprang  into 
a  carriage. 

"To  South  Fifth  Avenue!"  he  cried.     "Drive  like 


324  IN  THE  SWIM. 

hell.     I'll  make  you  rich  for  a  year!"  he  sharply  com 
manded. 

Far  away,  crouching  in  the  squalid  room,  watching 
the  frail  door  and  listening  for  the  sound  of  a  well- 
known  footstep,  haggard-eyed  and  desperate,  Harold 
Vreeland  waited  like  a  wolf  at  bay.  His  brain, 
burning  with  alcohol,  was  now  reeling  with  the 
violence  of  his  emotions. 

"Only  to  square  her  with  money,  to  get  her  away 
to  the  rendezvous  in  Paris,  or  to  see  her  safely  in  hid 
ing  among  the  French  declassees  here  till  she  can 
sneak  away.  Then  I'll  remove  the  paper,  and  after 
that  take  the  first  steamer  and  seek  safety  and  revenge ! 

"I  can  get  a  steerage  suite  at  Hoboken.  There  are 
several  steamers  to-morrow  morning.  No  one  will 
know,  and  I've  money  enough  left  for  a  whole  year. " 
He  felt  for  the  twenty  bills  of  a  thousand  dollars 
each  which  he  had  held  back  from  the  check  begged 
from  Garston.  A  legacy  of  unsuspected  shame ! 

Tired  and  wearied,  he  returned  again  and  again  to 
his  brandy  flask.  And  then  his  head  dropped  and  his 
cigar  fell  from  his  hand  as  he  dropped  into  a  half- 
drunken  stupor. 

He  awoke  at  a  slight  noise  and  raised  his  head.  He 
fixed  his  glazed  eyes  on  the  door. 

"She  is  coming!"  he  muttered.  "I'll  get  the  paper 
out  now,  and  all  will  be  ready  for  a  start. " 

With  a  knife,  he  sprang  back  the  loose  plating  from 
the  door  frame. 

Standing  on  a  chair,   he  had  already  grasped   the 

paper  in  his  trembling  hand  when  the  door  suddenly 

gave  way  with  a  crash,  and  three  burly  men   leaped 

into  the  room. 

•'  He  sprang  to  the  floor,  but  strong  arms  seized  him. 


IN  THE  SWIM,  325 

For  the  first  time  in  his  life,  Harold  Vreeland  felt 
the  snapping  of  handcuffs.  "The  jig  is  up!"  cried 
Daly,  facing  the  astounded  culprit. 

"I  arrest  you,  Harold  Vreeland,  for  robbing  the 
United  States  mail,"  cried  a  deputy  marshal;  but 
Dan  Daly  had  already  wrenched  the  stolen  document 
from  the  hand  of  the  ruined  trickster.  He  remem 
bered  the  last  injunctions  of  the  woman  he  served. 

It  was  now  safely  hidden  in  his  breast  and  lying 
against  the  picture  of  the  girl  whom  Daly  had  sworn 
to  make  the  happiest  wife  in  New  York.  The  one 
who  would  rule  his  little  home ! 

"Hold  on  to  him,  boys!"  cried  Daly,  as  he  stepped 
away  into  a  side  room  and  anxiously  gazed  at  the 
paper  which  he  had  recovered.  Yes,  it  was  the  same 
one,  for  he  had  only  waited  weeks  to  catch  the  scoun 
drel  with  the  document  in  his  unlawful  possession. 
The  secret  of  the  hiding-place  was  his  alone.  He 
called  the  schoolboy  a  "shadow"  no  longer,  for  the 
work  was  done. 

"Take  my  carriage.  Get  back  and  tell  the  mis 
tress  that  I  have  got  the  paper  she  wants.  Speak  to 
no  one  else ;  and  tell  her  that  Vreeland  will  be  put  in  a 
cell  alone  in  Ludlow  Street  Jail  as  a  United  States 
prisoner.  He'll  have  no  chance  to  talk! 

"I'll  follow  you  up  soon,  see  her,  and  then  go  and 
have  him  stowed  away.  I  will  bring  the  paper  up  to 
her  myself.  Hurry  now,  for  God's  sake!  I'll  take 
Helms  and  that  French  devil  away  later.  Tell  her 
not  to  breathe  a  word  to  a  living  soul.  I  am  acting 
outside  of  the  law. 

"Any  one  of  the  stolen  letters  that  we  found  with 
Helms  will  do  to  convict  him  with.  I've  got  one  here  to 
show  up,"  mused  Daly,  "and  now  the  three  wretches 


326  IN  THE  SWIM. 

up  there  will  all  be  eager  to  confess.  It  only  remains 
to  nab  that  scoundrel  Alberg,  and  to  face  him  with 
the  returned  Wilmot  woman.  It's  nearly  all  over. 
My  God!  What's  that?" 

Dan  Daly  sprang  back  into  the  main  room,  pistol  in 
hand,  as  a  deafening  explosion  rang  out.  His  eyes 
rested  on  a  body  lying  at  his  feet. 

"How  did  this  happen?"  he  yelled,  as  one  of  the 
detectives  excitedly  knelt  over  Harold  Vreeland  lying 
there  dying  on  the  floor. 

The  last  words  came  faintly  to  Vreeland 's  trembling 
lips,  flecked  with  a  bloody  froth : 

"Justine,  poor  girl,  tell  her — money — oh,  God! — 
water! — water!" — muttered  the  dying  man,  as  his 
head  fell  back.  He  lay  there,  the  man  of  art  and 
graces — the  man  who  had  played  out  the  lone  hand  in 
Life — dead  at  their  feet,  with  the  steel  bands  still 
upon  his  pulseless  wrists.  It  was  a  barren  victory! 

"It  was  all  done  quick  as  a  flash,  Dan!"  whispered 
the  disgraced  detective.  "He  was  seemingly  docile, 
and  asked  me  for  a  drink  of  water  as  you  went  out.  I 
turned  to  get  it.  He  had  seen  me  put  back  my  pistol. 

"With  his  handcuffed  hands  he  swiftly  plucked  it 
out,  then  one  touch  of  the  trigger,  and  there  he  lies. ' ' 

"It  is  the  will  of  God, "  said  Daly,  gravely, 
"There' 11  be  no  newspaper  scandal  and  public  exposure 
now.  He  has  gone  before  the  higher  court.  Wait  here. 
Let  no  one  enter.  We  must  call  it  a  drink  suicide." 

Daly  leaped  away  like  a  leopard  on  the  chase  to  be 
the  first  to  seal  Mrs.  Willoughby's  lips  forever  as  to 
this  happening,  and  to  hand  over  the  document  which 
had  cost  the  dead  scoundrel  his  life.  With  grave 
faces,  the  detectives  watched  the  stiffening  form  upon 
the  floor.  The  "rising  star"  had  set  forever! 


IN  THE  SWIM.  327 

Only  the  silent,  weeping,  widowed  woman  at  the 
Hotel  Savoy  knew  the  whirlwind  of  baffled  hate  which 
had  filled  Vreeland's  wretched  breast  as  he  staggered 
away  from  his  wife 's  rooms  that  morning. 

Their  quarrel  had  been  the  unveiling  of  an  un 
punished  crime — a  tangle  of  sin  and  shame. 

For  smarting  under  the  loss  of  a  "financial  backer" 
who  could  not  refuse  him  money  advances,  Vreeland 
had  faced  his  wife  with  the  direct  query,  so  long 
withheld,  as  to  her  separate  property. 

"You  must  now  aid  me  with  your  cash,  money, 
property  or  whatever  else  you  have.  Garston's  death 
leaves  me  without  a  friend. ' ' 

Standing  among  the  scattered  pyramids  of  fashion's 
evening  uniforms,  Katharine  Vreeland  turned  her 
bright,  defiant  eyes  upon  the  half-insane  speculator. 
How  she  despised  him  in  her  guilty  heart ! 

"I  have  neither  money  nor  friends.  All  I  had  to 
hope  for  died  with  James  Garston.  You  were  not  man 
enough  to  demand  an  accounting  of  the  living. 

"And  now  death  pays  all  debts.  I  have  absolutely 
nothing  to  show — ' ' 

Vreeland  had  seized  his  wife's  wrist. 

"You  were  his — " 

"Ward,"  quietly  retorted  the  beautiful  rebel. 

"And,  sir,  you  took  me  as  I  took  you,  on  trust! 
They  told  me  that  you  were  rich.  I  find  you  out  to 
be  a  mere  coward — a  fool  and  a  weakling,  too !  You 
have  thrown  away  the  handsome  fortune  which  James 
Garston  gave  you.  What  has  become  of  your  own 
money? 

"And  your  humbug  'business  interests'  down  in 
Wall  Street.  Were  you,  too,  only  an  'outside  agent' 


328  IN  THE  SWIM. 

for  Mrs.  Willoughby — a  mere  paper  screen  for  her 
speculations?  What  have  you  to  show  me?" 

Vreeland's  whitened  face  proved  his  silent  rage. 
"Our  paths  separate  here!"  bitterly  said  Katharine 
Vreeland.  "If  you  have  nothing,  I  have  less.  Not 
even  a  husband!  Do  you  see  that  door?"  she  cried, 
with  flashing  eyes. 

"Never  cross  its  threshold  again.  Leave  me  to  my 
dead  friend,  my  dead  hopes,  my  dead  heart — and  my 
poverty."  She  was  brave  to  the  last,  even  in  her 
abandonment. 

With  a  last  curse,  lost  upon  the  ears  of  the  defiant 
woman  now  hidden  in  her  own  room,  Vreeland  had 
turned  away  to  his  flight,  leaving  his  wife  penniless, 
and  he  departed  with  but  one  last  mad  hope. 

To  bear  away  Justine  Duprez,  the  only  witness,  to 
rescue  the  incriminating  document,  and  then  divide 
with  the  artful  Frenchwoman  the  remaining  twenty 
thousand  dollars  of  the  loan  forced  from  Garston. 
For  his  deserted  wife  he  had  not  even  a  thought ! 

"Once  safe  in  Paris,  Justine  can  easily  hide  me  there. 
I  can  easily  extort  a  fortune  from  Mrs.  Willoughby  and 
her  rich  associates.  Justine  can  marry  and  have 
her  petit  hotel.  The  document  will  be  a  wellspring 
of  flowing  golden  treasure. " 

And  so  in  his  last  hours  of  life,  the  woman  whom 
he  would  once  have  sacrificed  became  his  only  hope, 
and  to  draw  her  to  his  presence  at  their  only  safe 
trysting  place  he  had  gone  to  the  "Circassia"  for  the 
last  time.  But  she  could  not  see  his  furtive  signals, 
his  hovering  around.  She  herself  was  under  lock  and 
key  now! 

The  artful  schemer  proved  in  death  the  truth  of  Mr. 
James  Potter's  favorite  adage,  for  his  punishment 


IN  THE  SWIM.  329 

"came  around,  like  everything  else,  to  the  man  who 
waited,"  and  he  only  waited  in  vain,  for  Justine 
Duprez's  footfall.  But,  grim  Death  found  him  out 
red-handed  in  his  miserable  treachery. 

Judge  Endicott  was  closeted  with  Mrs.  Willoughby 
as  Roundsman  Dan  Daly  sprang  into  the  room  and  led 
the  trembling  woman  to  a  corner. 

When  they  were  alone,  Daly  whispered: 

"Just  step  into  your  own  room  and  see  if  this  is  all 
right. 

"For  God's  sake,  never  tell  a  human  soul  how  you 
got  it  back.  I  have  gone  beyond  my  duty  to  get  this 
into  your  hands.  I  would  be  cast  off  the  force,  pun 
ished  and  disgraced." 

The  old  lawyer  heard  Elaine  Willoughby's  cry  of 
affright  when  Daly  told  her  that  Vreeland  lay  dead  by 
his  own  hand  in  the  squalid  trysting  place  of  sin. 

Hugh  Conyers,  with  a  fine  prescience  of  some  com 
ing  tragedy,  had  held  the  boy  messenger  under  his 
own  eye  in  the  rooms  where  he  sat  guarding  Justine 
until  her  partner  in  crime  should  have  been  seized. 

"Let  no  one  know,  not  even  him!"  begged  Daly. 
"Let  the  world  always  think  it  to  have  been  a  suicide 
induced  by  drink  and  overspeculation.  I  can  cover 
it  all  up. 

"Your  daughter  is  safe  now.  Trust  to  no  one  but 
Conyers.  Tell  him  the  whole  story,  for,  he  loves  the 
very  ground  you  walk  on." 

There  was  a  strange  pallor  on  Elaine's  face  as  she 
laid  her  finger  on  her  lips. 

"You  have  saved  the  happiness  of  three  women, 
their  future,  and  their  peace  of  heart  and  soul.  Do 
not  stir.  I  must  have  time  to  think,"  she  whispered, 
as  she  glided  away. 


33°  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Murmuring-,  "Dead!  dead!  in  all  his  unfinished 
villainy ! ' '  she  walked  calmly  back  into  the  room  where 
the  old  lawyer  awaited  her  final  answer  to  Senator 
Alynton's  urgent  prayers. 

"Go,  my  friend!  Go!  Bring  Senator  Alynton  here 
at  once,"  cried  the  desperate  woman. 

"In  your  presence  only,  I  will  return  to  him  the 
document  which  he  demands.  And  its  return  marks 
my  divorce  for  life  from  the  Street.  I  have  signed  my 
last  check  for  stocks,  and  my  heart  says  Never  Again ! 

"Go  quickly;  for  when  Romaine  arrives  I  wish  to 
be  only  the  Lady  of  Lakemere.  I  have  stepped  down 
and  out.  I  abdicate !  There's  no  longer  a  Queen  of 
the  Street. 

"Noel  Endicott  can  close  up  all  my  affairs  under 
your  directions." 

"And,  Vreeland?"  anxiously  cried  Judge  Endicott. 
The  woman's  lips  trembled.  "I  shall  never  see  him 
again,"  she  faltered. 

"Go  now,  for  my  strength  fails,  and  I  wish  to  be  rid 
of  the  dangerous  trust  forever — this  terrible  paper 
which  is  lying  a  weight  upon  my  heart. ' ' 

When  the  old  advocate  hastened  away,  then  Elaine 
Willoughby  turned  like  a  tigress  at  bay. 

"Bring  Conyers  here.  I  must  think!  Think!  You 
may  yet  save  us  all!"  The  policeman  darted  away. 

In  five  minutes,  Daly  had  recounted  the  whole 
story  to  Hugh  Conyers,  who  sat  holding  the  woman's 
trembling  hands. 

' '  I  must  go  back  now.  Give  me  your  orders.  The 
newspapers  are  all  that  I  fear!  We  must  outwit 
them. ' ' 

"Is  there  not  a  French  restaurant  on  the  ground 
floor  of  this  haunt  down  there?"  said  Conyers. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  331 

"Yes,  yes!"  impatiently  cried  Daly. 

"Then,"  calmly  answered  Hugh  Conyers,  "the 
story  goes  as  follows:  Vreeland,  after  a  hard-drink 
ing  bout,  had  secretly  wandered,  half-mad,  upstairs 
and  took  his  life  in  the  first  room  found  open. 

"You  will  remove  his  body  to  the  Elmleaf  apart 
ments.  I  will  send  young  Kelly  down  there  to  pre 
pare  Bagley  for  the  last  visit  of  his  master. ' ' 

"And  must  I  notify  the  Coroner  when  the  body  is 
there?"  demanded  the  Roundsman,  in  admiration  of 
the  plan. 

"Yes,  and  tell  your  own  story.  Keep  the  deputy 
marshals  quiet.  I'll  see  that  they  are  all  well 
rewarded.  I  will  telephone  down  to  the  Wall  Street 
office  that  Mr.  Vreeland  has  died  by  accident.  I  will 
meet  Maitland,  Wyman  and  Noel  Endicott  at  the 
Elmleaf. 

"One  of  them  can  go  over  and  notify  Vreeland's 
wife,  and  so,  the  whole  thing  rests  safely  in  our  hands. ' ' 

"Helms  and  Mulholland?"  questioned  Roundsman 
Daly. 

"Let  them  be  safely  locked  up  in  Ludlow  Street  Jail, 
separately.  The  poor  letter-carrier  will  soon  confess, 
and  he  can  be  pardoned.  He  has  only  bee:i  a  tool. 
Helms  can  be  allowed  to  leave  the  country.  He  will 
never  talk! 

"And  to-night,  I  will  face  Justine  with  Martha  Wil- 
mot,  and  then  have  her  whole  confession." 

"That  scoundrel,  Doctor  Alberg?"  moodily  demanded 
Daly,  as  he  moved  to  the  door. 

"He  will  never  be  heard  of  after  the  news  of  Vree 
land's  suicide  is  published.  Let  him  slink  away; 
that  will  be  the  easiest  way  to  get  rid  of  him." 

When  Daly  had  departed,  Mrs.  Willoughby  clasped 


332  IN  THE  SWIM. 

* 

both  Conyers'  hands  in  her  trembling  palms.  The 
grateful  light  in  her  eyes  was  shadowed  with  tears. 

"You  would  save  me,  Hugh?"  she  faltered. 

"All  trouble,  all  annoyance,  all  sorrow,"  said  the 
journalist,  as  he  rose.  "I  must  be  busy  now.  See 
no  one.  Speak  to  no  one,  and  above  all  never  tell 
Endicott  nor  Alynton  nor  any  single  living  soul  the 
baseness  of  the  man  who  lies  dead  down  there." 

"You  are  my  saviour,"  she  murmured;  "I  will 
obey;  I  have  only  one  matter  to  close  up  with  Senator 
Alynton,  and  then,  I  am  free. ' '  she  said  with  downcast 
eyes. 

As  Conyers  went  sadly  away,  he  moodily  added: 
"And  that  is  to  answer  'Yes'  to  his  offer  of  his  hand 
and  fortune. ' ' 

Hugh  Conyers  was  absent,  engaged  in  throwing  the 
mantle  of  charity  about  Vreeland's  sudden  death, 
when  Senator  Alynton  was  led  into  Elaine's  presence 
by  Judge  Endicott. 

It  was  only  a  matter  of  a  few  moments  for  the  load 
to  be  lifted  from  the  woman's  agitated  heart.  "There 
is  no  receipt  needed,"  gravely  said  Endicott. 

"Of  course  the  possession  of  such  a  paper  is  as 
dangerous  to  friend  as  foe.  I  have  no  fears  that  any 
one  will  ever  call  on  Mrs.  Willoughby  for  it  again." 

Alynton  gazed  upon  the  troubled  face  of  the  woman 
whose  empire  over  his  heart  only  grew  more  perfect 
day  by  day. 

"I  must  come  to  you  at  another  time.  Can  I  write?" 
he  murmured.  And  Elaine  Willoughby  bowed  her 
head  in  silence  then,  for  his  speaking  eyes  told  the 
story  of  a  life's  hopes.  He  forebore,  in  sheer  mercy, 
to  press  his  suit  upon  her  now. 

The  great  Senatorial  millionaire  gazed  uneasily  at 


IN  THE  SWIM.  333 

Endicott.  "I  heard  a  strange  rumor  down  at  the 
Waldorf  from  young  Wiltshire,  about  Vreeland's  indi 
vidual  failure  on  the  Street  being  announced." 

"Not  another  word,  I  beg,  Senator,"  hurriedly 
said  the  old  lawyer,  courteously  taking  his  arm. 

' '  My  client  has  been  too  sadly  shocked, ' '  and  with 
the  promise  of  his  own  return  in  the  evening,  Endicott 
led  his  captive  away. 

"Thank  God!  They  know  nothing  as  yet!"  cried 
the  Lady  of  Lakemere,  as  she  called  Mary  Kelly  to 
her  side. 

It  seemed  to  the  agitated  woman  that  the  iron  jaws 
of  fate  had  closed  just  behind  her,  and  in  her  grateful 
heart  she  saw  her  only  champion,  Hugh  Conyers — 
strong,  brave,  true,  silent  and  tender.  Her  loyal  and 
silent  knight ! 

The  words  of  honest  Dan  Daly  came  back  to  her 
now.  A  rosy  blush  flamed  upon  her  cheeks  as  she  fled 
away  from  the  tender-hearted  Mary  Kelly's  watchful 
eyes.  "Some  day  he  shall  know  all,  he  shall  know 
my  whole  heart." 

And  when  the  telegraph  messenger,  just  then  arriv 
ing,  had  departed,  she  fell  back  in  a  happy  swoon  of 
delight,  for  she  had  read  the  words  which  filled  her 
with  sweet  surcease  of  sorrow : 

"  Coming  Saturday ;  Touraine.  Love  from  Sara  and 
Romaine." 

It  was  nearly  midnight  when  Justine  Duprez's 
broken  sobs  concluded  her  last  hastily  constructed 
tissue  of  lies.  The  schoolboy  guard  had  inadvertently 
yielded  up  to  her  the  news  of  Harold  Vreeland's  death 
in  a  moment  of  youthful  pride.  And  she  was  schem 
ing  to  free  herself  now  of  the  inconvenient  steel 


334  IN  THE  SWIM. 

jewelry  which  had  so  broken  her  spirit.  It  was  a 
sauve  qui pent! 

When  faced  by  Conyers,  with  Martha  Wilmot  at  his 
side,  in  the  presence  of  her  sternly  silent  mistress, 
Justine  caught  at  the  last  straw.  She  knew  all  the 
weaknesses  of  her  mistress'  womanly  heart. 

"I  know  why  poor  Monsieur  Vreeland  killed 
himself.  He  loved  my  mistress  madly,  and  he 
feared  that  the  rich  Senator  Alynton  was  going 
to  marry  her.  He  had  bribed  me  to  tell  him  all 
about  Senator  Alynton's  visits  and  of  the  love- 
making.  He  was  surely  half-mad  when  he  married 
that  heartless  woman. 

"Poor  Vreeland!  He  suffered  from  a  hopeless 
love !  He  feared  that  Alynton  would  marry  my  mis 
tress,  and  he  feared,  too,  that  he  would  then  be  dis 
charged  from  the  Wall  Street  business."  Mrs. 
Willoughby  was  trembling  in  a  silent  rage. 

She  dared  not  face  a  new  whirlwind  of  gossip,  and 
so,  the  sly  Frenchwoman  had  saved  herself. 

"But,  you  stole  your  mistress'  letter  and  gave  it  to 
him,"  coldly  broke  in  Conyers.  He  realized,  too,  that 
the  story  of  Senator  Alynton's  love-making  would  des 
perately  compromise  Mrs.  Willoughby,  and  the  maid 
could  easily  poison  the  public  mind. 

"I  did  not!"  stoutly  ejaculated  the  lying  French 
woman.  "Vreeland  bribed  the  German  doctor — that 
cowardly  scoundrel  Alberg — to  have  this  very  woman 
here  steal  the  love-letter,  and  she  secretly  gave  it  to 
Alberg,  and  then  he  gave  it  to  Vreeland.  They  are 
both  liars! 

"I  was  afraid  of  Vreeland.  He  threatened  to  have 
me  discharged, "  sobbed  Justine.  "And  I  know  that  my 
mistress  was  very  near  to  loving  him  at  one  time. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  335 

The  whole  truth  will  come  out  at  my  trial.  I  am 
innocent.  I  shall  demand  the  aid  of  the  French 
Consul."  Conyers  and  Elaine  shuddered  at  this 
threat  of  noisy  publicity. 

"You  met  him  at  your  rooms,"  angrily  broke  in 
Conyers,  who  now  saw  Elaine's  agony.  The  girl  had 
skillfully  hidden  her  face  in  her  hands.  It  was  her 
last  chance. 

"He  paid  me  well  for  my  trouble.  I  am  poor,  so 
poor,  and  I  was  afraid  that  I  might  be  accused  of 
stealing  the  letter.  He  himself  spirited  this  lying 
woman  away.  And  I  am  to  be  sacrificed!  The  pub 
lic  shall  be  my  generous  jury.  I  will  tell  the  story  to 
the  whole  world.  You  dare  not  ruin  me!" 

Conyers'  eyes  met  his  beloved  one's  in  an  awkward 
silence.  Then  he  returned  once  more  to  the  attack. 
"There  were  the  tell-tale  wires  and  the  criminal  tap 
ping  of  the  telegraph  and  telephone. ' '  Conyers  was 
less  harsh  in  his  accusations  now,  for  even  Martha 
Wilmot  was  appalled  by  the  Frenchwoman 's  audacity. 
Justine  Duprez  felt  firmer  ground  under  her  now. 
Her  glib  answer  was  ready! 

"Vreeland  undoubtedly  paid  the  letter-carrier  and 
the  janitor.  He  was  madly  determined  to  prevent  the 
marriage  with  Alynton,  at  any  cost.  He  knew  that 
the  Senator  disliked  him,  and  would  soon  cast  him 
out.  You  can  call  those  two  men  before  me  here.  I 
will  face  the  whole  world,  and  tell  them  how  the  poor 
young  man  died  for  a  love  which  he  had  been  led 
into.  Why  did  my  mistress  pick  him  up?  For  a  sum 
mer's  amusement?  The  fine  lady's  game.  She  drove 
poor  Hathorn  to  madness.  And,  she  is,  of  course,  a 
fine  lady!" 

Hugh  Conyers  was  called  from  the  room,  leaving 

22 


IN  THE  SWIM. 

Elaine  Willoughby  trembling  there,  with  her  pale 
cheeks  tinged  with  a  sudden  flame. 

There  was  no  defense  against  this  flood  of  vulgar 
abuse.  Her  soul  recoiled  at  the  threatened  publicity. 
The  sanctity  of  her  heart  was  being  violated  by  this 
brutal  traitress,  now  alert  in  the  defense  of  her  liberty. 
And  there  were  the  dangerous  secrets  of  the  Sugar 
ring  to  keep !  She  was  now  paying  the  price  of  her 
own  rashness. 

Conyers  soon  returned,  and  led  his  beautiful  charge 
to  the  end  of  the  room. 

"Alberg  has  escaped !"  he  whispered.  "He  sailed 
from  Hoboken  on  a  Norwegian  tramp  steamer  to-day. 
Daly  reports  that  Helms  and  Mulholland  have  been 
eagerly  racing  to  confess. 

"Mulholland  blames  the  drink  curse,  and  says  that 
Vreeland  paid  him  to  help  steal  a  rival's  love-letters, 
'only  to  beat  the  game'  of  that  hated  one.  Helms 
stubbornly  stands  out  and  swears  that  Vreeland  bribed 
the  electrician  to  tap  the  wires  so  as  to  overhear 
Mrs.  Willoughby's  lawyer  talking  over  the  impending 
marriage.  So  you  see,  the  lying  jade  will  have  wit 
nesses  to  back  up  her  story. " 

"What  must  I  do?  Tell  me,  Hugh.  You  are  my  only 
friend, ' '  faltered  Elaine,  grasping  his  arm  convulsively. 
"There  is  my  child.  Think  of  the  agony  to  her — the 
shame  of  such  disclosures!  My  new-found  darling!" 

"Yes,  and  there  are  the  newspaper  scandals  to  fear 
— the  worst  feature.  We  could  not  try  these  people 
and  dare  to  openly  prove  the  real  facts.  Even  a 
French  maid's  gossip  and  babble  can  find  believers, " 
sadly  said  Hugh,  with  averted  eyes.  He  well  knew 
the  callous  gossips! 

"You  would  only   estrange  Alynton,   plunge    your 


IN  THE  SWIM.  337 

daughter  into  a  useless  sorrow,  and  your  whole  life  story 
would  be  bruited  abroad.  I  can  not  bear  to  see  you 
disgraced,  Elaine,"  he  faltered. 

"I  have  a  plan,"  he  said  slowly.  "Keep  the  woman 
Justine  here.  I  will  pay  her  and  ship  her  off  to  Paris. 
Dan  Daly  will  see  that  she  goes.  Let  us  only  frighten 
her !  She  will  be  only  too  glad  to  escape  her  rightful 
punishment — the  lying  jade !  You  have  recovered  your 
dangerous  document.  You  do  not  need  Martha  Wil- 
mot  now.  Let  me  separate  these  people  at  once ! 

"Martha  goes  back  first  to  England.  Alberg  is 
gone,  and  of  course  the  nurse  can  not  be  convicted. 
There  is  no  direct  evidence.  I  will  have  Mulholland 
quietly  released;  Daly  can  answer  for  him.  Helms 
we  will  call  quits  with,  on  his  frankly  signing  a  full 
confession,  naming  only  himself,  and  I  give  him  a 
passage  over  to  Hamburg.  And  this  will  stop  Justine's 
mouth  forever." 

"And  the  disposition  of  Justine?"  murmured  the 
white-faced  woman. 

"She  stays  here  only  till  Vreeland  is  buried,  and  I 
then  will  have  her  properly  paid  off  before  the  Consul, 
and  see  her  on  the  French  steamer  myself.  I  know  the 
French  Consul  very  well.  She  will  never  return.  It 
is  the  only  way  to  bury  the  whole  past  in  Vreeland 's 
grave. 

"For,  only  in  this  way,  Daly  can  quietly  aid  me  to 
frighten  a  written  confession  out  of  each  of  our  other 
captives.  And  then  the  courts,  newspapers  and  the 
public  must  perforce  remain  out  of  the  affair.  I  have 
to  go  now  and  see  Wyman  and  Endicott  about  the 
arrangements  for  Vreeland 's  funeral,  as  his  widow 
refuses  to  see  any  human  being.  That  marriage  was 
only  part  of  some  abortive  scheme,  ruined  by  Garston's 

22 


338  IN  THE  SWIM. 

death.  I  should  say  that  you  had  seen  enough  of 
Wall  Street  now." 

"Use  full  power,  any  money;  let  it  be  as  you 
wish,"  said  Elaine,  leaving-  the  room  without  a  word 
to  the  two  women.  "I  trust  you  of  all  men!"  she  had 
whispered  at  parting.  And  yet  Conyers  only  sighed 
wearily. 

Conyers,  adroitly  separating  the  two  culprits,  has 
tened  to  give  his  directions  to  Roundsman  Daly,  who 
led  away  Martha  Wilmot  to  begin  her  preparations  for 
a  return  voyage.  He  saw  the  cogency  of  Conyers' 
smothering  policy.  "Best  end  for  a  bad  job  all 
round, ' '  said  the  blunt  policeman. 

It  was  midnight  when  Daly  and  Conyers  finished 
the  details  of  the  plan,  which  they  quickly  carried 
out. 

The  new  deal  left  only  Justine  Duprez,  a  moody,  self- 
torturing  woman,  lingering  along  under  surveillance, 
until  she  grasped  at  her  safety  by  an  implicit  obedi 
ence.  She  was  now  humbled  and  eager  for  departure. 
She  well  knew  that  Vreeland's  grave  hid  her  only 
friend. 

"Thank  heaven,  Daly!"  said  Conyers.  "I  have 
'squared'  all  the  reporters,  you  have  done  the  same  for 
the  police,  and  I  think  after  the  two  men  are  buried, 
that  a  week  will  find  them  both  forgotten  in  the  swim ! 
So  runs  the  modern  world  away ! ' ' 

' '  I  am  glad  of  the  whole  ending, ' '  said  honest  Daly. 
"For  as  Mrs.  Willoughby  has  promised  to  give  Mary 
a  home  of  her  own,  and  she  needs  her  services  no  more, 
I  shall  soon  ask  you  to  my  wedding,  and,  I  also  hope  to 
hear  of  your  own." 

"You  just  go  ahead  and  get  married,  Dan, "  laughed 
Conyers.  "I  have  waited  a  good  many  years,  and  I 


IN  THE  SWIM.  339 

am  in  no  hurry.  I  belong  to  the  great  reading  public, 
my  hydra-headed  master !  There  is  no  place  for  love 
in  the  study.  Cupid  is  a  poor  penman. ' ' 

It  was  a  fortunate  matter  that  Senator  Alynton  was 
busied  for  a  week  with  the  imposing  obsequies  of 
James  Garston,  for,  the  private  funeral  of  Harold 
Vreeland  was  passed  over  with  little  remark  by  the 
man  who  had  been  his  enemy.  Alynton  had  been 
quieted  by  the  return  of  the  document,  and  now,  no 
troublesome  heirs  of  Garston  could  ever  unearth  the 
secret  compact. 

Overspeculation  and  the  pace  that  kills,  told  the 
whole  story  of  Vreeland 's  downfall,  and  a  new  golden 
sign,  "Wyman  &  Endicott, "  had  replaced  the  last 
public  evidence  of  Vreeland's  meteoric  rise  and  fall, 
even  before  the  sod  rested  upon  the  forgotten  suicide. 

Two  black-robed  women  met  at  the  side  of  Senator 
James  Garston's  coffin  in  a  sad  silence. 

The  face  of  neither  was  visible,  and  when  the  last 
solemn  words  of  public  farewell  were  spoken,  neither 
dreamed  that  under  the  two  impenetrable  crape  veils 
were  hidden  the  woman  whom  he  had  loved  most,  and 
the  woman  who  had  once  loved  him,  with  all  the 
despair  of  a  lost  soul. 

There  is  a  mercy  in  the  freezing  silence  of  death 
which  often  hides  that  which  would  only  rend  the 
more  hearts  already  strained  to  the  snapping  of  the 
last  chord. 

Only  those  cheerful  young  club  men,  Messrs.  Wilt 
shire,  Rutherstone  and  Merriman,  noted  the  proud 
eminence  of  Mrs.  Volney  McMorris  as  guide,  companion 
and  friend  to  the  widowed  ward  of  the  dead  Senator. 
The  duenna  was  a  skeleton  key  of  society,  fitting  easily 
into  every  dead  lock,  and  well  oiled. 


340  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"The  little  woman  will  have  a  great  fortune," 
said  Merriman.  "I  hear  that  Garston  has  left  a  half 
of  his  wealth  to  her.  It  comes  in  very  handy  now, 
for,  poor  Vreeland  was  struggling  in  the  breakers. 

"She  will  be  a  great  catch  in  due  time, "  was  the  cho 
rus,  and,  when  they  separated,  each  gilded  youth  had 
separately  registered  a  vow  to  "make  up"  to  Mrs. 
McMorris,  and  then  to  go  in  later  for  the  golden  prize, 
when  that  black  crape  had  softened  to  lilac,  and  after 
ward  in  due  time  bleached  out  into  cheerful  white, 
with  here  and  there  a  touch  of  returning  color. 
And  they  all  knew  Katharine  Norreys'  good  points 
by  a  personal  experience  of  the  last  fleeting  twelve 
months. 

Vae  victis!  The  defeated  suicide  was  borne  away  to 
an  humble  grave  by  a  few  of  the  men  who  had  shared 
his  brief  prosperity.  The  three  watchful  club  men, 
already  secret  rivals,  were  on  hand,  there  to  note,  with 
surprise,  the  absence  of  the  widow,  who  was  reported 
to  be  "broken  down  by  her  guardian's  recent  death" 
and  "unable  to  appear."  And  so,  in  the  last  mourn 
ful  parade  the  star  performer  was  absent.  It  was 
voted  a  dull  affair. 

No  one  ever  knew  in  "society"  of  the  secret  visit 
made  by  Katharine  Vreeland,  under  Hugh  Conyers' 
escort,  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  features  of  the  man 
who  had  "failed  along  the  whole  line  of  life, "  after 
all.  The  defeated  "young  Napoleon!"  The  Loch- 
invar  of  the  West !  But  the  peace  which  he  had  never 
known  had  settled  upon  Vreeland's  pallid  face. 

Conyers  had  gravely  given  Mrs.  Vreeland  a  few 
words  of  caution  as  to  the  late  "envied  of  all  his  set. " 

"I  thank  you,  sir,  calmly  said  the  marble-faced 
woman.  "I  have  buried  his  past  forever,  and  your 


IN  THE  SWIM.  341 

protecting  counsels  are  not  in  vain;  for,  I  unfor 
tunately,  knew  him  as  he  was.  I  shall  leave  New  York 
forever,  for,  penniless  as  I  am,  I  will  have  now  to  earn 
my  bitter  daily  bread,  but  at  least  in  some  other  place 
than  here. 

Conyers  gazed  wonderingly  at  her.  "Did  you  not 
know  that  Senator  Garston  has  left  you  half  his  for 
tune?  You  will  be  a  rich  woman.  I  have  seen  a  cer 
tified  copy  of  the  will."  And  then  the  pale-faced 
woman  reeled  at  this  last  proof  of  a  fidelity  reaching 
beyond  the  grave.  Garston  had  been  game  to  the  core ! 

Conyers  sprang  to  the  side  of  the  fainting  woman, 
who  murmured,  with  trembling  lips,  "He  loved  me! 
He  loved  me,  at  the  last!' ' 

With  an  infinite  pity  in  his  heart,  Conyers  gazed  at 
the  broken-hearted  lonely  widow.  "Here  is  some 
strange  new  mystery, ' '  he  mused.  ' '  Thank  God  that  it 
is  sacred  from  me.  "  And  then  he  told  her  of  all  the 
cautious  actions  of  the  Trust  Company,  which  was  now 
only  awaiting  the  arrival  of  Miss  Romaine  Garland  for 
the  proper  legal  notifications.  And  so,  the  romance  of 
a  sweet  sin  remained  sealed  from  all  hearts  but  the 
one  throbbing  in  Katharine  Vreeland's  guilty  bosom! 

And  thus  in  a  week  two  young  women  who  had  never 
met  before  in  life  listened,  with  grave  lawyers  at 
their  sides,  to  the  publication  of  the  formal  news  of  an 
equal  division  of  Garston's  great  fortune  between  a 
now  widowed  ward,  of  whose  past  history  the  world 
knew  nothing,  and  Miss  Romaine  Garland,  at  whose 
side  Mrs.  Elaine  Willoughby,  Judge  Endicott  and 
Hugh  Conyers  sat  as  a  loving  bodyguard.  Even  the 
"hardy  reporter"  was  baffled  by  the  guarded 
solemnity  of  the  Surrogate  proceedings.  Scandal 
slept  on  its  arms  for  once ! 


342  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Katharine  Norreys  Vreeland  saw  that  the  beautiful 
stranger  was  robed  in  deep  mourning  like  herself,  and 
she  started  back  in  surprise  as  the  lovely  face  was 
unveiled  when  Elaine  Willoughby  brought  the  two 
heiresses  together  in  a  private  room. 

"It  is  only  to  you  here  that  I  will  say,"  solemnly 
remarked  the  Lady  of  Lakemere,  "that  the  settle 
ment  of  the  estate  business  will  not  require  you  to 
meet  again.  The  Trust  Company  will  properly  close 
up  all  the  details,  and  your  personal  lawyers  can 
arrange  all  your  affairs  separately  with  them. 

"I  know,"  she  slowly  said,  with  a  broken  voice, 
"that  Senator  Garston  left  no  personal  wishes,  and 
that  his  trust  for  each  of  you  was  merely  private  and 
a  personal  one.  He  had  no  near  relatives  to  quarrel 
with  his  final  dispositions. ' ' 

"Can  it  be,"  murmured  Katharine  Vreeland,  "that 
another  life  secret  is  buried  in  his  pulseless  heart?" 

But  she  was  soon  left  alone,  for  the  mother  and 
daughter,  with  a  grave  inclination  of  their  heads,  had 
passed  out  of  her  life  forever. 

And,  thrilled  with  a  strange  feeling  of  loyalty  to  the 
man  who  had  been  loyal  to  her  at  the  last — the  man 
who  had  died  true  to  the  unspoken  secret  which  a 
kindly  fate  had  so  strangely  guarded — Katharine 
Vreeland  never  sought  to  cross  the  gulf  of  that  new- 
made  grave. 

That  French  Pandora  Justine  Duprez,  had  reached 
Paris,  and  the  reunited  mother  and  daughter  were 
linked  in  a  rapturous  love  at  Lakemere,  long  before 
Romaine  Garland  listened  to  a  few  words  spoken  to 
her  by  the  old  advocate,  who  had  undertaken  her 
affairs.  He  had  sought  her  out  in  a  lonely  nook  of  the 
new  paradise. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  343 

Judge  Endicott,  with  a  prophetic  instinct,  saw  the 
unrest  which  possessed  the  young  girl's  heart.  He 
had  a  delicate  duty  to  perform,  to  which  his  chivalric 
love  for  Elaine  Willoughby  prompted  him. 

"I  must,  my  dear  young  lady,"  he  began,  eying  her 
face  keenly,  "deal  with  you  directly  and  alone,  in  the 
matter  of  your  inheritance  from  the  late  Senator 
Garston. 

"Your  beloved  mother  needs  an  absolute  repose  of 
mind  and  nerves.  I  wish  to  lay  a  friendly  charge 
upon  you. 

"I  will  relieve  you  of  all  cares  as  to  your  affairs 
with  the  Trust  Company. 

"Let  it  be  your  task  to  make  your  mother's  life  as 
bright  as  possible.  She  will  learn  to  live  a  new  life  in 
your  love." 

And  then,  the  silver-haired  Judge  delicately  led  the 
dark-eyed  girl  along  to  imagine  the  shadow  of  an 
old  family  tragedy  as  having  darkened  her  mother's 
early  lonely  womanhood. 

"There  are  reasons  why  you  should  spare  all  refer 
ences  to — " 

"My  father!  my  father!"  cried  the  sobbing  girl, 
burying  her  face  in  her  hands. 

Endicott  gazed  at  her  in  a  pitying  silence. 

"The  story  of  the  estrangement  of  two  partners  and 
your  mysterious  inheritance  is  one  not  fully  known  to 
me,  but  you  can  cherish  the  memory  of  James  Garston 
as  one  faithful  to  the  trust  of  a  stormy  past,  whose 
echoes  I  beg  you  never  to  awaken. 

"Should  your  beloved  mother  marry  Senator  Alyn- 
ton,  one  of  America's  noblest  men,  you  would  find  his 
counsels  wise,  his  honored  name  a  shelter,  and  your 


344  IN  THE  SWIM. 

securely  invested  fortune,  of  course,  now  makes  you 
independent  of  all  possible  financial  disaster. 

"The  same  caution  holds  as  to  Mrs.  Katharine 
Vreeland,  who  has  already  left  New  York  for  a  pro 
tracted  sojourn  abroad. 

"There  are  sorrows  which  are  sacred.  It  rests  with 
you  alone  to  bring  back  the  happiness  which  she  craves 
to  your  mother's  sorely  tried  heart.  "  The  old  gentle 
man  paused,  for  the  proud  girl's  cheeks  were  glowing. 

"Shall  we  be  allies?"  he  simply  said.  "I  have 
served  your  mother,  the  noblest  woman  whom  I  ever 
met,  in  loyalty  for  fifteen  long  years. ' '  The  grateful 
girl  smiled  through  her  tears. 

"There  is  my  hand!"  Romaine  Garland  cried.  "I 
see  that  you  would  have  me  understand  why  my 
mother  does  not  openly  explain  to  society  my  different 
name  and  my  clouded  childhood.  You  require  my 
silence  as  to  the  past." 

"Precisely,  my  dear  young  lady,"  said  the  gallant 
old  lawyer,  as  he  fled  happily  away.  "I  have  plausibly 
explained  what  I  do  not  care  to  know  myself,  Con- 
yers!"  remarked  the  Judge,  next  day,  to  the  grave- 
faced  journalist.  "But  the  whole  thing  will  right 
itself  when  Senator  Alynton  marries  the  mother.  I 
presume  after  her  return  from  their  trip  abroad  that 
Elaine  Willoughby  will  find  her  final  heart-rest  in  a 
good  man 's  love. ' ' 

But  when  Endicott  had  finished  his  cogitations  he 
was  alone,  for  Hugh  Conyers  had  hastily  excused 
himself  on  the  plea  of  urgent  business. 

Endicott  honestly  believed  that  Garston  had  only 
held  back  Romaine 's  property  to  prevent  a  marriage 
with  Alynton. 

Mr.  James  Potter,  driving  down  the  avenue  a  few 


IN  THE  SWIM.  345 

days  later,  bowed  with  deep  respect  to  Mrs.  Elaine 
Willoughby,  who  was  passing,  with  her  lovely  daughter 
seated  by  her  side.  He  turned  to  his  wife,  whose 
face  was  averted. 

"I  wonder,"  said  he,  "if  that  plunger  Vreeland 
really  impaired  her  fortune.  He  was  a  most  reckless 
and  insinuating  scoundrel,  and  he  diligently  hunted 
his  punishment.  He,  however,  saved  the  State  the 
trouble  of  keeping  him  in  Sing  Sing  for  a  term  of 
years,  for  it  would  surely  have  come  around  to  him. 

"One-half  the  energy  devoted  to  being  an  honest 
man  that  he  expended  in  his  schemes  would  have 
made  him  a  colossal  success." 

But  the  Lady  of  the  Red  Rose  at  his  side  only 
sighed  in  a  silent  relief,  for  with  a  shudder  she 
recalled  what  a  permanent  guarantee  of  safety  for 
herself — for  her  past  recklessness — lay  in  the  immov 
able  seal  of  death  affixed  to  Harold  Vreeland's  pallid 
lips. 

And  in  the  crowded  "Street,"  as  well  as  in  the 
glittering  booths  of  Vanity  Fair,  the  light-headed  men 
and  women  hurrying  on  in  pursuit  of  the  iridescent 
bubble  Pleasure,  or  the  Fool's  Gold,  soon  forgot  that 
a  stealthy-eyed  man  of  conquering  mien  had  ever 
come  from  the  West  to  dazzle  them  for  a  moment. 
"£toile  qui  file  et  disparait!" 

In  the  dark  waters  of  Lethe  soon  was  'whelmed  the 
memory  of  the  man  who  had  so  miserably  perished 
in  the  "swim." 

The  fleecy  mantle  of  winter  snows  covered  the 
"eligibly  located"  mound  in  Greenwood,  where  a 
marble  cenotaph  was  soon  to  proudly  record  the  many 
virtues  of  James  Garston,  and  the  same  pallid  mantle 
of  charity  hid  the  lonely  mound  in  humbler  Woodlawn 


346  IN  THE  SWIM. 

where  Harold  Vreeland  slept  the  sleep  that  knows 
no  waking. 

He  was  already  forgotten  in  the  bustling  Street, 
where  the  new  firm  of  "Wyman  &  Endicott"  was  a 
stately  and  established  fact.  "Le  roi  est  mart!  Vive 
le  roi." 

By  some  subtle  freemasonry  of  the  guild  of  Midas, 
the  whole  stock-dealing  coterie  soon  knew  that  Mrs. 
Elaine  Willoughby  had  doffed  her  crown  as  Queen  of 
the  Street. 

The  iron  reserve  of  her  former  secret  agents  was 
never  broken,  and  none  knew  and  few  cared  whither 
she  had  gone  out  of  the  maddening  whirl  and,  whether 
with  full  or  empty  coffers. 

The  social  world  knew,  though,  that  the  splendid 
apartment  at  the  "Circassia"  was  dismantled,  and  the 
various  society  journals  announced  the  impending 
departure  of  the  Lady  of  Lakemere  "for  a  residence 
abroad  of  some  years."  Garston's  death  had  proved 
a  bombshell,  scattering  several  little  coteries. 

Only  old  Hiram  Endicott  gravely  shook  his  head  at 
the  mysterious  movements  of  his  social  friends.  The 
match-making  prophecy  seemed  clouded. 

Senator  Alynton  was  busied  dealing  sturdy  blows 
in  the  Senate  at  his  party's  foes,  and  beyond  a  final 
conference  arranging  for  the  closing  out  of  all  past 
relations  of  his  fair  client  with  the  Sugar  Syndicate, 
Endicott  followed  neither  the  affairs  of  the  giant 
partnership  in  Gotham  nor  their  secret  allies  in  Wash 
ington. 

He  was  busied  with  much  legal  detail  in  arranging 
Mrs.  Willoughby's  manifold  affairs  for  a  protracted 
absence.  "I  wish  all  to  be  in  order,  Judge,"  she 
said,  "for  I  know  not  what  may  happen,  and 


IN  THE  SWIM.  347 

Romaine's  future  must  be  assured."  The  bright- 
faced  girl  had  simply  stormed  her  loving  mother's 
heart. 

"There  is  only  one  way  to  assure  it,"  gravely 
answered  the  old  lawyer.  "You  must  marry,  for  the 
child's  sake.  This  past  life  of  yours  has  been  a 
lonely,  a  wasteful  and  a  forced  one. 

"Now  that  you  are  out  of  stocks  forever,  now  that 
you  have  found  a  new  happiness  in  that  charming 
girl,  it  is  for  you  alone  to  build  a  barrier  for  her 
against  the  future  fortune-hunter  or  scheming  knave. 

"There  are  more  Hathorns  and  Vreelands  in  the 
world  than  those  two  dead  speculating  lovers." 

"Whom  would  you  have  me  marry?"  asked  Margaret 
Cranstoun,  gazing  demurely  at  her  chivalric  friend — 
the  man  who  even  now  possessed  but  half  her  life 
secret. 

Her  woman's  heart  was  now  beating  wildly  with  a 
suggestion  which  she  dared  not  own. 

"Why,  Alynton,  of  course!  One  of  America's  most 
brilliant  men,  a  man  already  of  national  reputation," 
slowly  rejoined  the  old  lawyer. 

He  opened  his  eyes  in  a  startled  surprise  as  the 
beautiful  woman  frankly  said,  with  a  merry  laugh : 

"I  certainly  can  not  consider  his  proposal — until 
he  makes  it!" 

She  fled  away,  however,  to  confer  with  Noel  Endi- 
cott  upon  the  final  closing  accounts  of  the  banking 
firm  in  which  she  was  leaving  a  handsome  sum  as 
"special  partner." 

Both  the  Lady  of  Lakemere  and  the  old  Solon  were 
now  playing  at  "hoodman  blind. ' '  And  Hugh  Conyers 
felt  himself  of  little  use  now,  for  the  clouds  had  all 
vanished.  He  was  no  fair-weather  friend. 


348  IN  THE  SWIM. 

Elaine's  heart  was  light  when  she  saw  how  com 
pletely  Endicott  had  deceived  himself.  "Fate  is  still 
kind  to  me;  no  one  knows,  no  one  shall  ever  know," 
she  murmured,  locking  up  a  fond  woman's  secret  in 
her  throbbing  breast.  It  was  not  yet  the  appointed 
time  of  the  final  surrender  of  her  self-sovereignty. 

There  was  merriment  at  Lakemere,  where  Sara 
Conyers  watched  with  a  secret  satisfaction  the 
increasing  intimacy  of  Noel  Endicott  with  the  beauti 
ful  girl  who  had  so  strangely  drifted  into  a  loving 
mother's  arms. 

For  Noel  came  daily  now,  "on  business" — the  road 
seemed  to  shorten  every  day  with  use — and  the  guest 
chamber  of  Lakemere  which  he  most  affected  was 
his  real  headquarters.  "There  was  so  much  to 
arrange  for  the  retirement  of  the  queen." 

"I  shall  let  Senator  Alynton  know  privately  of 
Elaine's  projected  absence,"  wisely  decided  the 
sagacious  Judge  Endicott.  "He  should  have  a  fair 
field,"  and  to  this  end  the  old  lawyer  counseled  with 
Hugh  Conyers,  now  busy  and  preoccupied. 

"There  is  a  strong,  able,  wise  man,"  said  Endicott. 
"Just  the  man  to  make  her  a  good  husband !"  The 
Judge  was  astounded  at  Conyers'  complete  indifference. 

"I  may  go  over  to  England  soon  on  a  long  assign 
ment, "  shortly  said  Hugh.  "You  might  speak  to  my 
sister.  These  are,  after  all,  things  for  women's 
advice.  I  am  no  squire  of  dames.  I  think  of  giving 
up  active  journalism  now.  " 

Endicott  then  reflected  that  Hugh  Conyers'  face 
was  rarely  seen  now  in  the  happy  coterie  at  Lake- 
mere.  The  delicate  details  of  covering  all  of  the  tragic 
past  from  Romaine  Garland  were  all  completed.  "I 
wonder  what  is  the  matter  with  him?"  growled  Endi- 


IN  THE  SWIM.  349 

cott.  "I  looked  for  his  help  to  bring  about  this 
marriage. ' ' 

Hugh's  last  work  had  been  to  close  up  the  "Elm- 
leaf"  headquarters,  and  to  direct  Bagley,  now  the 
head  butler  at  Lakemere,  in  storing  the  scattered 
effects  of  the  unhappy  suicide. 

For  Mrs.  Katharine  Norreys  Vreeland  had  departed 
for  Europe,  and,  even  the  International  Trust  Com 
pany  refused  to  disclose  her  address  or  whereabouts. 

Her  private  lawyer,  Mr.  Abel  Hanford,  of  the 
company's  legal  staff,  declined  to  accept  the  owner 
ship  of  the  mementoes  of  the  dead  adventurer  and 
guarded  a  grim  and  sullen  silence. 

"I  am  positively  ordered  not  to  disturb  my  client, 
who  is  in  impaired  health,  with  any  references  to  the 
late  Mr.  Vreeland  or  his  affairs.  Sell  the  trash,  and 
turn  the  money  in  to  me.  I  will  receipt  for  that!"  It 
was  cold  comfort. 

And  no  further  word  would  the  cool  young  lawyer 
utter,  even  to  Horton  Wyman,  now  anxious  to  legally 
close  up  all  the  affairs  of  the  defunct  schemer. 

"Turn  the  whole  thing  then  over  to  the  Public 
Administrator!"  was  the  counselor's  curt  order. 
"My  client  will  not  return  to  America  for  many  years, 
if  ever." 

In  all  these  strange  happenings  Miss  Sara  Conyers 
was  the  only  one  at  Lakemere  who  was  really 
unhappy  at  heart.  She  was  the  sole  confidante  of 
Romaine  Garland,  who  now  poured  out  all  her  secret 
conclusions  upon  the  bosom  of  her  faithful  friend. 

Romaine  had  seized  upon  Katharine  Vreeland 's 
departure  as  being  the  closing  scene  of  the  veiled 
mystery  of  her  unknown  father's  life. 

But  a  lucky  accident  helped  the  plans  of  the  wise 


35°  IN  THE  SWIM. 

old  Judge.  "I  am  to  bury  the  past  and  all  reference 
to  it.  There  must  have  been  some  strange  sorrow, 
and  perhaps  my  co-heiress  was  in  the  past  a  part  of 
some  hostile  element. " 

Completely  deceived  as  to  her  birth,  the  young  girl 
divided  with  Sara  Conyers  a  budding  mystery  of 
sweetness  and  light,  which  she  dared  not  as  yet 
acknowledge  upon  her  mother's  bosom.  For  the 
Queen  of  the  Street  was  a  stately  presence,  and 
Romaine's  maidenly  heart  was  shy  and  gentle. 

But  Noel  Endicott  was  daily  becoming  to  her  the 
joy-bringer  and  his  "business"  at  Lakemere  was  not 
\  unseen  by  his  astute  old  uncle. 

"That  goes  on  well  enough!"  the  old  lawyer 
chuckled,  "and  it  will  be  a  noble  ending  to  the  poor 
girl's  homeless  childhood.  But  my  lady  herself  is  a 
mystery."  He  forgot  to  add,  "as  all  other  women 
are," — the  same  changeful  mystery. 

"She  has  locked  up  her  heart  and  seems  to  be  still 
determined  to  walk  the  lonely  path.  If  Alynton 
would  only  speak!"  The  old  Judge  fretted  and 
fumed  among  his  parchments. 

Loyal  Sara  Conyers  alone,  knew  why  her  brother 
Hugh  had  studiously  avoided  the  happy  circle  at 
Lakemere. 

For  old  Judge  Endicott 's  prophetic  words  as  to 
Alynton's  wooing  rankled  deep  in  the  steadfast 
man's  lonely  heart.  He  waited  grimly  and  afar  off 
for  the  advent  of  the  conquering  swain,  Senator 
Alynton. 

"She  needs  me  no  more,"  he  bitterly  decided.  "It 
is  all  over.  I  have  the  whole  world  to  choose  from 
for  a  future  home,  and  as  she  seems  to  have  captured 
Sara  for  life,  I  am  now  free  to  go  my  way.  " 


IN  THE  SWIM.  35i 

And  so,  when  the  foreign  station  was  offered  him, 
Conyers  quietly  accepted  it,  and  then  leisurely  pre 
pared  for  his  departure. 

In  daily  close  communion  with  Hugh  Conyers' 
sister,  the  Lady  of  Lakemere  silently  wondered  at  his 
continued  absence  and  pondered  over  the  gravely 
worded  letters  of  polite  refusal  which  answered  her 
hospitable  biddings. 

There  was  that  strange,  sweet  womanly  pride  in 
Elaine  Willoughby's  heart,  the  pride  of  a  cherished 
secret,  which  held  her  speechless  when  the  words  of 
inquiry  trembled  on  her  lips.  And  it  seemed  as  if  the 
witching  breath  of  the  tender  spring,  hinting  of 
summer  roses,  had  now  bewitched  the  whole  circle. 
The  fern  seed  of  invisibility  drifted  down  on  all  the 
hidden  plans  slowly  revolving  around  Lakemere. 
For  the  long  winter  had  worn  away,  and  the  time  of 
the  singing  of  birds  had  come  again. 

Elaine  Willoughby,  hugging  her  undiscovered  secret 
with  a  lingering  pleasure,  ardently  sighed  for  the 
days  when  safe  beyond  the  reach  of  all  untoward 
accident,  she  could  build  up  around  her  recovered 
daughter  the  paradise  of  a  happy  home  beyond  the 
seas.  Of  herself,  of  her  own  future,  she  dared  not  to 
think,  for  the  sweet  spring  was  stirring  in  her  throb- 
ing  pulses. 

"She  will  learn,  she  must  learn,  in  my  tenderest 
love,  to  forget  that  unasked  question  of  her  brooding 
eyes — "My  father!"  It  is  better  that  she  never  knows 
— best  for  us  all. ' '  This  task  of  induced  forgetfulness 
was  the  mother's  single  ambition  now. 

The  arrangements  for  departure  were  rapidly  pro 
gressing,  and  as  the  time  of  roses  came  nearer,  Elaine 

23  ^ 


352  IN  THE  SWIM. 

could  not  disguise  her  increasing  restlessness  in  noting 
Hugh  Conyers'  absence. 

The  saddened  eyes  of  his  sister  brought  a  sudden 
alarm  to  Elaine's  heart. 

For  a  pride  as  strong  as  her  own  had  kept  them 
tenderly  apart. 

The  modest  household  of  Roundsman  Dan  Daly 
had  been  enriched  with  all  the  splendors  removed 
from  the  Elmleaf,  and  Mary  Daly  daily  blessed  the 
generous  hand  which  had  given  to  her  the  home  in 
which  the  very  spirit  of  happiness  seemed  to  have 
nestled. 

And  only  there,  in  that  modest  home,  of  all  the 
circle,  was  there  peace  and  rest,  for  both  the  mother 
and  daughter  at  Lakemere,  in  tender  deceit,  guarded 
the  heart  secrets  which  they  dared  not  own. 

The  silent  resentment  of  Sara  Conyers  against  the 
self -banishment  of  her  brother  was  now  growing  into  a 
doubt  of  Elaine  Willoughby's  womanly  gratitude. 

"Between  her  and  Hugh  I  have  no  choice,"  the 
angered  womanly  champion  of  an  absent  brother 
decided.  "Back  to  our  old  eyrie  we  go  together,  or 
else,  I  will  share  Hugh's  foreign  exile."  And  she 
marveled  at  her  brother's  imperative  injunction  of 
silence  as  to  his  plans. 

It  was  when  Noel  Endicott  was  feverishly  closing 
up  the  last  final  "business  affairs"  at  Lakemere, 
supplemented  with  some  portentously  long  "personal 
conferences"  with  that  young  Diana,  Miss  Romaine 
Garland,  that  Judge  Endicott,  a  grave  embassador, 
came  up  to  Lakemere  with  news  of  ^erious  moment. 
He  was  secretly  Cupid's  embassador. 

He  was  alone  with  the  woman  whose  interests  he 
had  chivalrously  guarded  for  fifteen  long  years. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  353 

With  a  sigh  he  returned  again  to  the  question  of  the 
marriage — the  strange  dead-lock  which  had  so  baffled 
him. 

"You  sail  for  Europe  in  a  month.  Have  you  noth 
ing  to  say  to  me,  Elaine?  There  is  but  one  final  seal 
to  the  happiness  of  your  future  life.  Your  marriage. ' ' 

"The  Senator  has  an  ardent  advocate,  my  dear 
old  friend!"  Elaine  answered,  with  beaming  eyes,  "but 
he  has  not  yet  asked  for  me!" 

"He  will,"  very  decidedly  answered  Endicott.  "I 
have  a  letter,  in  which  he  asks  me  to  arrange  an 
interview,  to  formally  ask  your  permission  to  come 
here. 

' '  I  now  understand  the  delicacy  which  has  held  him 
back  till  all  your  momentous  business  matters  have 
been  settled  and  you  have  been  relieved  from  all  the 
awkwardness  of  your  confidential  relations  with  the 
two  great  bands  of  capitalists. 

"He  has  respected  your  illness,  your  agitation  over 
Garston's  mysterious  death,  and  has  given  you  time 
to  arrange  all  your  legal  affairs  and  settle  Romaine's 
inheritance. 

"Remember,  he  deems  her  to  be  only  your  ward. 

"They  speak  now  of  Alynton  for  a  leading  Cabinet 
position.  His  term  in  the  Senate  is  expiring ;  or  they 
will  give  him  one  of  the  four  Embassies. 

"If  he  asks  you  to  share  his  life,  I  would  say  noth 
ing  to  him  of  the  unhappy  past.  Romaine  is  now  of 
age.  She  is  rich  beyond  need.  I  myself  never  have 
questioned  you. 

"You  have  a  right  to  hold  back  all  that  might 
shadow  Romaine  (God  bless  her!)  in  her  possible 
future  marriage. ' ' 

Endicott's  voice  was  tremblingly  affectionate,  and 
23 


354  IN  THE  SWIM. 

yet  the  solicitude  was  tinged  with  a  solemn  earnest 
ness. 

The  old  lawyer  rose  and  kissed  the  fair  woman's 
hand.  "My  life-work  is  nearly  done.  Noel,  as  your 
agent,  can  carry  on  the  executive  affairs,  and  as  you 
are  off  the  'Street'  and  out  of  stocks  forever,  you 
will  need  no  lawyer,  only  now  and  then  a  mere  bit  of 
office  counsel,  and  therefore  I  am  turning  over  my 
practice  soon  to  Headley,  my  partner  and  legal 
disciple.  He  will  be  to  you  what  I  have  been. 
Alynton  will  call  within  two  days." 

"You  wish  me  to  marry?"  said  Elaine,  with  softly 
shining  eyes.  "Wait,  wait!  I  may  consider  your 
advice  and  act  favorably  upon  it."  The  happy  old 
advocate  departed,  sure  of  his  victory.  It  was  all 
going  on  well. 

Hiram  Endicott  was  haunted  by  the  strange  smile 
which  lit  up  the  thoughtful  face  of  the  woman  whose 
life  as  Margaret  Cranstoun  was  now  closed  forever 
from  a  curious  world  by  the  sealed  barriers  of  a  dead 
past. 

"She  will  surely  accept  him,"  rejoicingly  muttered 
the  happy  old  advocate.  "Noel  will  then  gain 
Romaine's  heart,  and  there  will  be  a  royal  circle 
gathered  in  coming  years  at  Lakemere,  around  the 
once  lonely  fireside."  But,  Love  that  hath  us  in  the 
net  was  weaving,  ever  weaving,  in  silence. 

And  the  cross  purposes  of  the  unwitting  actors  were 
seemingly  as  unsolved  as  before.  With  a  sudden 
craving  for  aid  in  her  hour  of  mental  indecision,  that 
night  Elaine  Willoughby  wrote  a  last  appeal  to  the 
invisible  Hugh  Conyers: 

"I  must  see  you,  Hugh,  at  once  on  a  matter  involv 
ing  the  happiness  of  my  whole  future  life.  Come  to 


IN  THE  SWIM.  355 

me.  I  have  no  one  but  you  to  depend  upon  in  this 
vitally  important  juncture. " 

As  the  Lady  of  Lakemere  mentioned  to  her  now 
all-potent  representative,  Sara  Conyers,  the  impending 
visit  of  Senator  David  Alynton,  she  saw,  with  a 
womanly  intuition,  an  indignant  flash  of  unspoken 
resentment  in  her  friend's  eyes. 

Suddenly  forgetting  her  usually  affectionate  "Good 
night,"  the  startled  hostess  fled  away  to  her  own  room, 
and  not  daring  to  look  at  her  own  face  in  the  mirror, 
seized  the  letter  directed  to  the  recalcitrant  Hugh 
and  tore  it  into  little  fragments. . 

"I  understand!"  she  whispered  with  self-accusing 
timidity,  and  now  strangely  fearful  of  her  own  judg 
ment,  her  heart  leaping  up  in  defense  of  the  absent 
man.  "It  would  be  too  cruel!  I  dare  not,  and  yet 
how  will  he  ever  know?"  Dan  Cupid,  from  rosy 
clouds,  smiled  roguishly  upon  her  slumbers  that  night. 

The  brooding  peace  of  Lakemere  was  left  undis 
turbed  by  the  lively  heiress  and  Miss  Sara  Conyers, 
who  had  managed  to  have  "sudden  business"  in  the 
city  during  the  formal  visit  of  Senator  Alynton. 

And  so  there  was  no  one  to  see  the  proud  man  go 
forth  with  a  man's  saddest  burden  in  his  heart.  She 
loved  another! 

No  one  of  the  obsequious  attendants  saw  a  graver 
shade  than  ordinary  settle  down  upon  the  face  of  the 
statesman  when  he  turned  his  stately  head  at  the  park 
gates  in  a  last  adieu  to  the  graceful  woman  who  stood 
with  her  earnest  eyes  following  his  departing  form. 

"God  bless  her  now  and  always!"  the  saddened 
suitor  murmured,  even  in  his  heart's  sorrow. 

The  noble  simplicity  of  Alynton's  tender  of  his 
hand,  the  tribute  laid  at  her  feet  of  a  choice  between 


356  IN  THE  SWIM. 

the  honors  of  the  Cabinet  and  a  foreign  place  of  splen 
did  precedence — the  manly  words  in  which  he  told  her 
of  his  grave  solicitude  for  her  happiness,  and  the  real 
reasons  for  his  past  reticence,  all  had  touched  her 
heart  with  a  womanly  pride  in  this  man's  honest  love. 

"I  could  not  tell  him  the  whole  truth,  for  the  child's 
sake ;  and,  less  than  the  whole  truth,  would  be  an  out 
rage  to  his  faith  and  a  blot  up6*n  my  womanhood." 

Judge  Endicott  now  followed  her  with  mute  accusing 
eyes,  for  he  feared  the  ruin  of  his  hopes. 

It  was  a  week  before  Romaine  Garland's  head 
sought  her  friend's  bosom. 

"Sara,"  she  whispered,  "do  you  know  that  we  sail 
next  week?  Your  brother  must  come  and  say  adieu, 
for  it  is  more  than  she  can  bear.  I  have  a  secret  to 
tell  you.  I  need  your  help.  I  need  his  friendship. 
Only  Hugh  can  help  me  with  my  mother,  for  this 
parting  from  Noel  is  almost  death  to  me.  She  must 
know  the  truth,  but  how?" 

The  elder  woman  raised  the  loving  girl's  glowing 
face  to  her  own  and  fondly  kissed  her  trembling  lips : 

"Ah!  this  is  an  easy  task  for  you!  I  can  guess  your 
secret,  darling,"  Sara  sadly  said.  "But,  I  am  going 
away  to  share  Hugh's  lot. 

"I  do  not  sail  to  Europe  with  you.  I  have  not  yet 
told  your  dear  mother. 

"For  she  will  know  it  soon  enough,  and  then  over 
there,  beyond  the  sea,  you  will  live  in  new  scenes, 
with  other  friends  to  share  your  happy  hours.  You 
will  be  soon  called  back — there,  don't  deny  it. 

"And  your  mother — who  would  not  love  her?" 
The  blushing  girl  was  seized  with  a  sudden  impulse, 
love's  chords  were  thrilling  in  her  heart. 

It  was  on  that  very  afternoon  that  Miss  Romaine 


IN  THE  SWIM.  357 

Garland  drove  resolutely  to  the  station  and  indited  a 
telegram  which  brought  Hugh  Conyers  promptly  to 
the  door  of  Lakemere,  as  the  setting  sun  was  drop 
ping  behind  the  western  hills  of  the  Highlands.  He 
feared  the  very  worst ;  some  sudden  disaster. 

The  mystified  face  of  his  loving  sister  at  once 
undeceived  the  man  whose  heart  had  been  so 
strangely  stirred  by  Miss  Mischief's  imperative  dis 
patch.  For,  the  Silent  Knight  had  "reported  for 
duty.  "  It  was  a  lovingly  set  trap. 

"Nothing  has  really  happened?"  he  asked,  with  a 
fear  of  some  reserved  news  of  unwelcome  portent. 

"Nothing,  sir,"  said  Elaine  Willoughby,  quietly, 
as  she  suddenly  appeared  before  him,  bringing  a 
quick  thrill  to  his  heart,  "but  that  you  are  now  under 
arrest  as  a  deserter,  and  so  will  have  to  stand  a  formal 
court-martial." 

It  was  a  second  strategic  movement  on  the  part  of 
Romaine  Garland,  that  summons  of  her  lark-like  voice 
calling  Sara  Conyers  to  some  consultation  of  truly 
feminine  gravity,  in  the  distant  seclusion  of  her  own 
rooms.  "Miss  Mischief"  was  en  supreme. 

And  there,  side  by  side,  Elaine  Willoughby  and 
Conyers  wandered  away  over  to  the  summer-house, 
where  the  first  roses  were  breathing  out  their  prom 
ise  of  summer's  royal  richness  upon  the  fresh  crystal 
line  air.  Neither  seemed  willing  to  break  the  silence 
of  their  hushed  hearts. 

"You  sent  for  me,  Elaine?"  said  the  man,  who 
hardly  dared  to  trust  the  sound  of  his  own  voice.  It 
seemed  to  him  so  strange  and  hollow. 

His  hostess  turned  her  splendid  eyes  toward  him, 
and  their  hands  met  in  silence. 

"I  did  not,  Hugh,"  she  softly  said.     "But  as  I  will 


35s  IN  THE  SWIM. 

be  away  for  some  years,  I  thank  God  that  you  are 
here !  For,  I  have  a  sacred  duty  to  perform. 

"I  know  not  what  may  happen. 

"Sara  has  just  told  me  that  she  will  not  go  to 
Europe  with  me.  All  seems  so  changed !  Endicott  is 
growing  old.  I  have  no  other  friend,  and  I  am 
solicitous  about  Romaine's  future.  I  did  intend  to 
ask  you  to  act  for  me  in  some  very  grave  matters,  but 
you  have  lately  avoided  me — strangely,  cruelly." 

The  voice  was  broken  now,  and  Hugh  Conyers 
hastened  to  man  his  last  works. 

He  knew  now  how  love  had  sealed  her  proud, 
womanly  lips,  for  her  heart  was  beating  with  his  own. 

"How  could  I  come  to  you?  If  Sara  had  only  saved 
me  this  last  sorrow!  When  I  heard  from  Endicott 
that  you  were  to  marry  Alynton,  I  at  once  accepted 
an  engagement  for  five  years  to  represent  the  Clarion 
in  Europe. 

"I  sail  myself  in  a  few  weeks.  I  only  waited  for 
your  departure  to  have  my  sister  select  our  little 
household  gods. 

"For  I  have  sworn  to  be  a  slave  of  the  lamp  no 
more,  and  so  my  spinning  is  done.  I  shall  not  return 
to  America. " 

"Do  not  leave  me,  Hugh!"  murmured  Elaine 
Willoughby.  "I  need  your  friendship;  I  need  you 
more  than  ever,  now  that — ' ' 

He  was  already  striding  away,  for  with  a  last  con 
vulsive  grasp  of  her  hands,  he  had  swiftly  passed  on 
over  the  velvety  turf  toward  the  still  opened  gates. 

His  heart  was  in  a  mad  revolt,  there  had  been  some 
meddling  folly,  and  his  pulses  were  throbbing  now 
in  a  wild  unrest.  The  agony  was  beyond  his  surface 
stoicism. 


IN  THE  SWIM.  359 

But,  he  stood  as  one  transfixed  when  a  voice  sweet 
and  low  set  his  blood  leaping  madly  through  his  veins. 

"Hugh,  come  back!"  The  words  were  simple,  but 
he  turned  to  where  the  woman  whom  he  madly  loved 
stood  awaiting  him  with  half-outstretched  arms. 

"Do  you  not  see?"  she  murmured.  "How  can  I 
tell  you  what  you  should  have  known  long  ago?" 

"You  are  not  to  marry  Alynton?"  cried  her  lover,  a 
light  of  hope  stealing  into  his  eyes.  His  heart  was 
flooded  with  a  warmth  of  daring  hopes. 

' '  The  man  whom  I  am  to  marry  has  not  yet  asked 
me  to  be  his  wife,"  faintly  said  Elaine. 

"It  was  only  Judge  Endicott's  foolish  solicitude 
for  my  future. 

"He  may.  have  told  you  what  his  own  hopes  or 
wishes  were,  but  only  in  the  simple  faith  of  a  prophet 
before  his  time. " 

' '  It  has  been  a  hell  on  earth  these  long  months, ' ' 
was  Hugh's  response;  "and  I  dared  not  to  hope — I 
did  not  know — " 

"How  weak  and  fond  we  women  wait 
Behind  our  silken  armor — " 

whispered  the  splendid  woman  whose  hand  he  had 
covered  with  burning  kisses. 

"I  have  loved  you,  have  worshiped  you,  and 
have  served  you  in  perfect  faith  and  truth  since  first  I 
saw  your  dear  face,"  was  Hugh  Conyers'  confession 
of  faith.  She  was  gently  paltering  with  her  rebellious 
heart.  She  would  bring  herself  to  the  lines  of  a 
clearly  defined  duty  now. 

"I  must  tell  you  to-night  the  story  of  a  life.  I 
must  swear  you  to  secrecy,  my  Hugh,"  faltered 
Margaret  Cranstoun. 


360  IN  THE  SWIM. 

"For  the  child's  sake,  you  alone  must  know  every 
throbbing  of  my  heart ! ' ' 

He  bowed  his  head  in  token  of  that  fealty  of  the 
soul  which  she  longed  for. 

"You  shall  be  the  queen  to  the  very  end,  my 
darling!"  he  said.  "I  will  lend  you  Sara,"  he  simply 
said.  "Take  Romaine  and  her,  and  I  will  join  you 
by  Lake  Malar. 

"I  will  at  first  report  at  London,  and  then,  they 
can  name  a  man  to  relieve  me. 

"It  will  be  the  best  plan,  for  our  quiet  marriage 
over  there,  will  arouse  no  comment  here. 

"The  gold  fish  in  the  swim  will  not  pause  to  won 
der,  for  their  own  reflections  on  the  shallow  water  of 
the  pool  of  Fashion  fill  their  delighted  eyes. ' ' 

And  so,  they  walked  back,  hand  in  hand,  their 
hearts  throbbing  together  in  Love's  royal  bondage. 

A  week  later,  Judge  Endicott  stood  upon  the  deck  of 
the  Campania,  waiting  to  give  his  last  greetings  to  the 
Lady  of  Lakemere,  whose  wonderful  cheerfulness  now 
boded  some  new  springing  impulse  of  her  happy 
heart. 

The  old  advocate  eyed  Hugh  Conyers  and  his  sister 
with  a  pleading  for  the  confirmation  of  his  cherished 
hopes.  There  seemed  to  be  a  happy  secret  linking 
the  three  travelers  in  a  golden  bond.  Was  Alynton's 
life  to  be  crowned  at  last? 

And  the  silver-haired  Judge,  with  a  secret  joy, 
observed  Noel  Endicott' s  tall  form  bending  over  Miss 
Romaine  Garland,  whose  hands  were  filled  with  those 
June  roses  which  are  the  very  daintiest  seals  of 
Cupid's  pledges. 

In  the  last  moments  there  was  vouchsafed  to  him 
the  answer  to  the  unspoken  question  which  was 


IN  THE  SWIM.  361 

lingering  on  his  lips, "the  long-hoped-for  marriage. " 

"I  am  to  be  married,  as  you  advised,  ray  dear  and 
faithful  friend,"  was  the  parting  confession  of  the 
Lady  of  Lakemere. 

"When?"  demanded  the  delighted  lawyer,  as  his 
mind  reverted  to  the  vast  advantages  of  Senator 
Alynton's  friendship  for  his  favorite  nephew. 

"Whenever  Hugh  calls  upon  me,"  was  Elaine's 
reply,  as  she  felt  her  lover' s  strong  grasp  of  an  already 
imprisoned  hand. 

"Bless  my  soul!  I  have  been  blind!"  cried  the 
happy  old  advocate. 

"So,  have  we  all  been  too  long,  Judge!"  Hugh 
Conyers  gaily  answered. 

There  was  a  little  scene  "not  down  on  the  bills"  in 
the  shady  corner,  where  Romaine  Garland  slipped  a 
sparkling  ring  upon  her  finger,  when  Noel  Endicott 
kissed  her  trembling  lips. 

'•'I  will  tell  them  as  soon  as  we  are  at  Stockholm, 
and  cable  to  you  'Come,'  "  was  the  maiden's  pledge. 

The  uncle  wondered  at  his  nephew's  loyal  vigil  until 
the  stately  ship  was  lost  to  sight  far  down  the  beauti 
ful  bay. 

And  so,  Love  reigned  upon  the  darkling  waters  that 
happy  night. 


THE  END. 


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